


A Fractured Gem

by jj41



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Dust Experimentation, F/F, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Attempted Suicide, Swearing, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:54:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26555443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jj41/pseuds/jj41
Summary: What would you do if you can't remember your childhood? You know it was traumatic given the scars that you see all over your body. Would you want to know what happened? Or would you prefer the past to stay forgotten so you can focus on the future? What would you do if the past you can't remember is preventing you from having a future?*This is an OC story that takes place roughly a year before the start of Volume 1*
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone who bothered to click on this piece. This is my first fiction that I've ever decided to publish after some encouragement. As you can see in my awful summary this star an OC character. I know a lot of people generally don't like that so this is your chance to bow out now. Also, this fic will cover some heavy themes as the story goes on. Such as depression and suicide attempts. If those make you uncomfortable than I suggest you don't read this. One other note is that I'm an awful writer. Don't come into this with a high bar. If anybody is still here here after my warnings, I hope you enjoy the first chapter I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: So, I've been working on editing this a lot thanks to the advice that alicja_adler has been giving me in discord. I've worked a lot on my grammar and tried to make the scenes feel more alive and less stilted. I'll also be updating chapter 2 before I post chapter 3. I hope this improves the enjoyability of this fic for those who are finding interest in it.

"Where the hell is she?" The young man asked himself while scanning his surroundings. He was standing outside the city, looking at the endless desert. After looking at the cliff sides, he found who he was looking for. He carefully worked his way around the cliffside to sneak up on his target. His target was a girl who is a year younger than himself.

"You know you suck at sneaking, right." The girl spoke, stopping the boy in his tracks. 

"Well, I have to try to sneak up on you. When you run off to pout somewhere, you have a tendency to hide."

"I'm not pouting." The girl said sternly.

"Look, Saphy, I don't kn- AHHH! Dammit!" The boy yelled out, clutching his forehead. He then noticed the rock that landed next to him after colliding with his forehead.

"How many times have I told you not to use that nickname, Hao!?!?" The girl shouted, now standing facing the boy with annoyance and irritation plastered on her face.

"God's fine. Sorry, Sapphire. Ugh, this is going to bruise."

"Oh, please. A little bit of aura, and you won't have a bruise. Don't try and play the hurt card with me, Hao." Sapphire answered as she turned back around and sat back down on the cliff's edge.

"Hmmm. So why are you up here then, if you're not pouting." Hao asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Trying to figure out what I'm going to do."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look." Sapphire handed Hao a document. He could tell right away that it was an official document from Shade academy. He took it and started to read through it.

"What!? Why would they not accept you!?" Hao shouted, his hand gripping the document almost beginning to tear it.

"You're a better fighter than any of the students in my year, and we will be second-year students at this point. This doesn't make any sense."

"It does if you remember what my past is and the incidents I caused. You know I was lucky to be able to attend Oscuro academy. I was surprised they even let me graduate." 

"Everybody knows those issues were out of your control. And your past doesn't matter. If they would ju-"

"That is part of the problem, Hao. It was out of my control. Which means it could happen again. Which means I'm a risk to be around. And my past does matter. As much as you don't want it too, it does." Sapphire pulled up her knees to her chest and clutched them tightly with her arms. Her eyes hardened as she stared off into the seemingly endless desert.

"There is a lot that everybody is still trying to figure out about the 'modifications' that happened to my body. And since it's still unknown, it scares everybody. Don't pretend your family isn't either."

"Our family Sapphire. You know mom and dad love you as if you were their own daughter. You turned out to be the little sister that I didn't know I wanted. We are not scared of you. We all --" Hao put his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her.

"Don't lie, Hao." Sapphire flinched at the touch, forcibly shaking off his hand.

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me about this topic. I've seen the subtle looks that mom, dad, and you sometimes give me. It's a look of fear. You guy's trying to hide it, but sometimes it shows. Most of the time, it's when you are all tired at the end of the day."

Hao couldn't find a way to refute this because she was right. At least for his part. He didn't know if his parents still had any lingering anxieties towards his adoptive sister. He did yet fear what she had to endure, given the scars on her body. He was scared of what she had to endure and how she even survived it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hao reflects to a memory when he was eight years old. When he first met Sapphire. He had been reading his scroll at the kitchen table, trying to focus his mind and ignore the downpour that had been happening outside. That was when he noticed his mother running around, grabbing all the clean towels that she could. Before he could ask her what she was doing, he heard the front door slam open. This sound startled Hao out of the chair he was sitting in.

"Li!" The man yelled, and Hao watched his mother enter the living room. He quickly followed her; his curiosity had gotten to him.

When he had entered the room, he saw his dad holding someone. At first, he couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but he noticed her face's more feminine characteristics after another glance. Or at least what parts he could see.

He saw that the girl's cheeks were sunken, huge black marks were under her eyes. The eyes themselves looked listless. The only way he could tell she was alive was because she was slightly trembling from the rain.

Li quickly took the girl into a towel and cradled her while leaving the room. The girl showed no response, almost as if she wasn't aware of what was happening around her.

  
  


"Dad, who was that?" Hao had asked, gesturing towards where his mother left.

"I'll explain later; for now, please go back to your studies. I seem to recall you have a test coming up."

"Yes, sir." Hao sighed heavily in response.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"HAO!!" He snapped out of thoughts and looked over at Sapphire.

"What!? Geez, don't yell. You scared the shit out of me."

"You were daydreaming again and wouldn't respond to me. I could smack you in the head if you want." Sapphire snarked while raising her hand and slowly made a fist.

"So my daydreams could turn into normal dreams? No, thank you." Hao responded in fake annoyance.

"What were you thinking about?" Sapphire asked while lowering her hand again but keeping her eyes locked on him.

"It was about the time you first showed up with my - our parents." He glanced over to see if she caught his slip. Either she didn't hear it or didn't mind it.

"Hmmm." She just hummed in response while turning back to look at the scenery.

"How come you started dying your hair? It's a beautiful shade of blue. Why did you dye it black?"

"It helps me forget."

"Forget what?" Hao asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"Sometimes, when I would brush my hair, I would get flashes of some deep-seated memory. At times it would linger too long, and I would go into a small panic attack. So I dyed it black. Those flashes have stopped since then." Sapphire's eyes for a brief moment showed a mixed emotion of fear and pain, but she could hide it from Hao.

"Do mom and dad know?" Hao asked, leaning forward with concern on his face. Trying to look her in the face.

"No, and I don't want them to. Not yet, anyway. I don't really think that blue was my natural hair color, either. I think whatever happened to me also changed my hair color. Just another experiment I want to remember, but at the same time, don't want to remember." Sapphire sighed.

"Can we drop this for now?" Sapphire pleaded.

"Sure, do mom and dad know about the letter from Shade?"

"No, I was going to talk to them about it at dinner. Please don't say anything until then. Especially to dad. You know how he gets after he gets back from a mission."

"I hope it was successful; otherwise, it's going to be a stressful dinner. Speaking of, we should head back."

"Alright, let's go." They both stood up and started to walk through the sandy environment to trek back to the city of Coquina, their home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"We're back!!" Sapphire yelled as they entered their home.

"Meng Hao! Sapphire Zhūwǎng! Please come here now!"

"Full names, that's rarely good." Hao uttered.

"And that was mom yelling. That is more alarming as well." Sapphire added as they entered the kitchen and saw their mother and father sitting there. 

Sapphire pensively looked at her mother, a therapist for the city, while taking a seat at the kitchen table. Hoping she wasn't giving off any facial clues or ticks that would give away what she was thinking. The girl then glanced at her father, who had a stern look on his face. She could not tell if the expression was because of something herself and Hao did or because of his latest hunt.

"Both of you can calm down. You aren't in trouble yet. We have just heard some disturbing rumors in town and would like to talk to you about these whispers first." They both looked at each other and then nodded to their father and nodded at him to continue.

"First, Meng, did you almost cripple one of your classmates earlier today?" Their father stared at Hao, with a hardened look that only a veteran hunter could display.

"No, father. I had a small altercation with one of my peers, but I never came to blows with him. I really wanted to as he was disrespecting Sapphire behind her back." Hao answered while having a little sweat drip down his neck.

"What?" Sapphire questioned, but Hao disregarded it and continued his story.

"After I said my peace with him, I walked away. Otherwise, I would have attacked him, and I would guarantee that he would be crippled if I did." Zhang looked at his son closely, studying his face.

"Okay, I will look into this more and see if they have any evidence of this so-called attack. Sapphire." She turned to look at her father, still feeling slightly pensive.

"Did you have an outburst today?" Her eye twitched. She quickly glanced at her mother, instantly knowing that she caught the tick.

"I had a little one, but nobody got hurt. I made sure I was in an isolated area before I went off."

"That's fine. I know nobody was hurt; otherwise, we would be having a very different conversation. But why didn't you tell your mother or me about this? I would have preferred to hear about this from you rather than through gossip. Both of us are just a call away." Her father was showing disappointment in his eyes. Sapphire couldn't tell if it was from the fact that she didn't tell him or because she had another outburst.

'So they were just concerned? I see.' Sapphire decided that it was just concern over her mental state that they are concerned about instead of the outburst itself.

"I was going to bring this up at dinner, but I guess I'll bring it up now." She pulls out the letter and delivers it to her father.

"This is why I had an episode. I'm currently at a loss on what to do." Both her father and mother looked over the letter together; both started to frown as they read through it. Zhang started to show anger as he finished it.

"Stupid fucking morons!!"

"Zhang!"

"Sorry, honey."

"Sapphire, what do you think about this?" Her mother inquired with concern in her eyes. 

"As I said before you started reading it, I'm unsure of what to do. Shade is the most open academy there is. If they don't accept me, then the other academies that are more strict with their requirements will not accept me either." Sapphire sighed and tilted her head up to gaze at the ceiling before continuing to talk.

"I'm rather vexed right now. I'm being denied what I want to do simply because of a past I have no control over, which results in the possibility of an emotional outburst that I have no control over. It's rather comical if you think about it. My past, which nobody knows the full story of which ripped apart my youth, has also ripped apart my future. I'm starting to wonder if it was even worth it that I survived whatever I went through." Sapphire spoke, practically on auto-pilot. Unaware of the emotions being displayed on her family's faces.

'Shit! I didn't mean to say that out loud!' Sapphire chided herself.

"Don't you dare say that!!" Li yelled at her daughter with tears in her eyes.

"Aside from marrying Zhang and having Meng, you are the best thing that has happened in my life. I don't regret taking you in. Please don't disregard your life like this, presuming it's not worth anything." Li rose from the table, still trying not to cry. 

Sapphire looked calm as she looked at her mother, but her emotions were running high inside, and her mind was racing.

"Then why are all of you still frightened of me?" Sapphire spoke with a completely deadpan expression. Not allowing any of her inner turmoil to leak out.

'I thought I got rid of all these pent up emotions earlier. Guess I was more on edge than I thought. This is going to be a fun conversation.'

"Wh-What do you mean?" Li and Zhang looked at Sapphire with distress, and Hao just looked down at the table, remembering their earlier conversation. Sapphire sighed before starting.

"I didn't mean to talk about this with you yet, or ever if possible. But it's already been said, and I can't take it back. All of you know that I am really good at reading body language. Mom, you said I'm better at reading people than you are." Li just nodded at her statement, and Zhang nodded along in agreement.

"Well, there are times when you are exhausted, when your guard is down when I see slight hints of fear in your eyes when you look at the scars on my arms or legs or abdomen. Particularly when I have a small episode." 

Both Li and Zhang had small facial twitches, as this was explained. When Sapphire saw this, it basically confirmed her suspicions. She slightly squinted at this confirmation. Hao couldn't look at her like her parents were, however. He just kept looking down at the kitchen table they were all sitting at. That they were still scared of her. Even after all this time.

"Did I ever tell all of you why I want to be a huntress?" They all shook their head. Hao finally raised his head to look at her. Zhang decided to add a remark.

"No, all we knew is that you wanted to be one. And we all support your decision on wanting to be one."

"The reason is so I can pay you back for taking care of me for these past eleven years of my life. At first, I was attending the academies to follow in my father's footsteps." She gestured towards Zhang, which brought a small smile to his face.

"He seemed to enjoy helping people, and I want to do that too. To prevent any more people from becoming like me. I guess on a certain level, I still want to do it for that reason." She paused to glance at the ceiling for a moment before returning her gaze to them.

"But now I have another reason. To pay this family back." Li quickly chimed in.

"Sapphire, why do you feel the need to pay us back? We are a family. There is no reason for you to think like that!" Li looked like she wanted to leap over the table, given how distraught she was sounding. But Zhang put his hand on her shoulder and gently made her sit back down. He looked back at Sapphire, unsure if he would like her answer.

"Because everybody here is pretending to be a family. Once I saw the fear, which has been at least five years since I first noticed it, I started to realize that I may not be part of the family like I thought. So I started to stop seeing myself that way as well. Just an outsider acting to be a daughter and sister."

"That is not true! We all -" Sapphire raises her hand to stop Li.

"That doesn't change the feeling you all have apparently buried. Because of this, I feel obligated to pay you back for your goodwill towards raising me. So I would pay you a specific amount from any payment I get until everything is paid in full."

"Hun, please jus-" Sapphire interrupted her mother again by suddenly rising from the table.

"Look, I think the three of you need to discuss how you all truly feel about me." Sapphire's voice started to become gruffer, and her face began to show signs of exhaustion.

"I'm going to lie down. I'm still on edge from this afternoon, and this isn't really helping. If you want to talk about this later tonight, that's fine. If you want to discuss this another day from now, then that's fine too. Please make sure all of you come to terms before we talk about this again." Sapphire started to head back to her room, only stopping at the doorway to look over her shoulder at her family.

"I'll skip dinner tonight. I'm not really hungry anymore." Sapphire added that before disappearing down the hall and entering her room. 'That could have gone better.'

Sapphire disrobed while trying to decompress the emotions that have just been agitated and started to inspect her scars. Her left leg had severe ice burn scars over most of the limb, with a few chunks of skin missing, seemingly from removing skin that was too damaged. It wasn't deep enough to get to the muscle, but it was to become a constant source of aches. Her right leg had numerous 2nd and 3rd-degree burns; some patches still had small traces of necrotic skin, with more skin sections being taken off.

She gently ran her fingers over the scars while taking deep breaths. Trying not to imagine the pain she has forgotten from getting these. She then stopped and looked at her arms.

Both arms had numerous Lichtenberg scars across both arms, resembling tree branches. Some people have actually told her that they had a gorgeous design. She would always just nod with them, humoring the pity they would say to her. If she could look behind, the Lichtenberg scars went her across her shoulder blades as well.

Her chest and abdomen have numerous laceration scars. Some are old and faded but still just as deep and angry. Others are more recent from Grimm that she underestimated. Her mid to lower back had more gashes, but her mind and impressions tell her those were from whips.

On each wrist were small blade marks going along the veins. They were still relatively fresh, only a couple of months old. She started to anxiously rub the cuts on her right wrist as she began to recall the emotion. She had hit a low point somewhat recently. Luckily Hao found her and was able to stop the bleeding while her mother contacted the hospital. She was observed closely for a while before she got out of her low. She quickly shook herself out of that dark thought, however.

'I can't dwell on those thoughts. I know what will happen if I do.' She reprimanded herself.

After looking over her body, she put on some black sweatpants and a slightly oversized white t-shirt. She laid down on her bed and reached to her right ear. She had a hearing aid in each ear.

'I don't know how any experiment could have affected me this way, but having sensitive ears is not beneficial to anybody. It's just god's damned annoying.' She had a very annoyed look on her face as she thought this.

These were unique hearing aids that softened the noise around her instead of magnifying it. There was a case where the hearing aids stopped working, and Sapphire passed out from hearing the TV in another room. She was unconscious for three days; as a result, leaving her mother and father a worrying mess. Zhang even canceled some of his hunts until he knew Sapphire would recover. She turned the aids so that any audio was very stifled.

'I hope I don't dream tonight. I just want a decent night's rest', Sapphire thought to herself as she closed her eyes and drifted off. Sapphire's hope does not come to pass, however.

It was 3 A.M. when the whole house was woken up to screaming. Hao was the first to burst into Sapphire's room. He was followed closely by Li and Zhang. They all saw Sapphire sitting up in her bed, holding her head, screaming her lungs out. Her eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. When she wasn't crying, she would try and speak, but the words were indecipherable. Li ran in front of her to try and get her to focus on her. Hao saw that her aids were turned to a very hushed volume level, so he turned them up to the usual level so she could hear both Li and Zhang try and calm her down. They tried talking to her and holding her to let her know they were there. But nothing worked. After a few minutes, Zhang had to hold on to her hands as she was starting to try and rip her own hair out by the roots. During this, Hao pulled out his scroll to call for an ambulance. It was the longest 20 minutes that any of them felt until she finally passed out from whatever pain she felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 has been updated with corrections.

'Where am I?' Sapphire was questioning herself as she regained consciousness and struggled to open her eyes and look around. She had a dull pang in her head, and her throat felt like it was dipped in liquid fire. But after a bit of time, she was able to concentrate on her surroundings.

'This ceiling and that beeping, not to mention that sterile smell. I'm in the hospital again. What the hell happened this time?' She paused to recall back to the last memory she could summon.

'Oh...I remember. More of them came back.' She looked around and pushed the call nurse button that she became all too familiar with. Once the nurse entered the room, Sapphire began to greet her.

"H….e.." Talking didn't work as she desired. She quickly clutched her throat in pain. The muscles in her throat started to throb, where even breathing was hurting a little.

'I did scream for quite some time, I guess.' Sapphire stopped this as she raised her hand to stop the nurse from approaching, visibly conveying that she was okay.

"Hello, Sapphire. I would say it's nice to see you again, but we both know that none of us like seeing you here. Would you like me to call your family?" Sapphire just nodded her head and then laid back down and watched the nurse leave the room. Now she just needed to wait for them to arrive, which didn't take long. Within ten minutes, her mother, father, and brother came.

"Little Gem, are you okay!?" Her mother ran up to hold her.

'My nickname? Mom must have been very distraught.' She tenderly pushed her mother out of the hug and then pointed at her throat.

"Your throat still isn't healed? It's been a little over ten hours already. Your aura should have long since healed it." Her father raised the question in concern.

"I'm afraid we had to induce some medicine to dampen her aura so it wouldn't heal the wound." A doctor strolled in and started to explain but was interrupted by her father. 

"Why? She has used aura to heal wounds before. Even internal ones."

"Yes, that is true, but her throat has a lot of residual dust in the muscles of her esophagus. Far more than the rest of her body from what our instruments can tell. From what we saw with an endoscope, there is a lot of fire and lighting residual dust. Suppose her aura was to activate the dust accidentally. In that case, it could cause permanent damage to her throat, or even kill her if it activates the dust in the nervous system in her neck."

Meng was left speechless, but her parents weren't surprised, and neither was she. Not anymore. She looked over to Hao and mouthed something to him. He looked at her, and then his eyebrows shot up in realization and pulled out her scroll and handed it to her. She started typing out on it and then got the doctor's attention.

"How long until I get my voice back?"

"Without aura and regular antibiotics, anywhere between five days to three weeks. That dust in your throat is an unknown factor to how it will heal." Sapphire just nodded her head, used to bad news at this point. Hao noticed something was off with Sapphire, so he decided to speak up with a small gleam in his eye.

"I think Sapphy here could use some more rest; maybe we can come by tomorrow?" Sapphire snapped her head to Hao with a glare the family was all too familiar with. Hao knew that if she didn't have an IV in her arm, she would have leaped out of bed and threw him out the window. He just stuck out his tongue in protest to her glare.

Li sighed at watching her children start to bicker with each other physically.

"Meng, please don't antagonize your sister. Sapphire, please forgive your brother this time so you can focus on healing. Please." Li spoke up, trying to defuse the situation.

"Yes, mother," Hao said, throwing another smirk at Sapphire.

"Yes, mom." Sapphire typed on her scroll before giving Hao one more glare.

"Visiting hours start at nine tomorrow morning. Feel free to come by then." The doctor then left the room as Zhang spoke up to thank him.

"Thank you, doctor. Sapphire, we'll come by to see you tomorrow." Zhang said as he started to shuffle the family out of the room. Sapphire just nodded her head as they left. 

Once they were gone and well out of earshot, Sapphire gave a deep sigh and relaxed her body. Her back became drenched in sweat from releasing all the tension she had been holding.

'If Hao noticed something off, then mom definitely did. I'm not sure if dad did, though. If he noticed, then he didn't show it.' She mused to herself as she laid her head back down to relax her body and try to sleep, praying she wouldn't have more memories resurface. Thankfully she got her wish and was able to sleep peacefully for the night.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sapphire slowly opened her eyes, feeling the sunlight peaking into the room from behind the blinds. She looked around until she found the clock.

'7:00 A.M. I always wondered that no matter how exhausted or wounded I was, I would always wake up at seven on the dot. Now I know why. That is when he would always begin the experiments.' She retreated a bit into her freshly recalled memories before stopping herself.

'I wonder how much my parents actually know. I've always felt like they knew something. They weren't surprised about the dust in my system when they first took me in.' Sapphire sat up in the bed to lightly stretch and pop her back before lightly wincing.

'I hope I can heal quickly. I want to get this conversation over with.' She started to doubt her family more and more, unsure if she felt she could even trust them anymore. 

Sapphire laid her head back down and closed her eyes, going into a meditative state. She was too anxious and didn't want to wait to sift through her newly unlocked memories that she let something slip her mind. Sapphire has an eidetic memory, so when she remembers being in pain from training, she feels that pain all over again. She has only ever confided in Hao about this; she never even told her parents. She can't place why she doesn't trust her parents, but it's a feeling she just can't shake. Since Hao is only a year older than she is, she quickly became attached to him. They built up trust with each other very swiftly through training and helping her with school work.

She began to fall back into the earliest memory she has. She was four years old and strapped to an operating table. She was scared and confused and would always struggle but would still prove futile. She had an IV drip in her left arm, pumping some kind of liquid into her. She remembers the pinching of the needle hurting, but since she currently has an IV in her arm right now, she didn't notice that she recalled the pain. 

She then noticed a man with a lab coat tower over her. He looked lanky, but she couldn't see his face since the lights above them were casting a shadow on his face as he leaned over her. She didn't notice he was carrying a syringe until he pierced it in her right arm. She felt the pinch and then saw him push the plunger down. It was an odd mix of yellow and red liquid; the color's never entirely mixing. Then she felt the pain coursing through the nerves in her arm and shrieked out. The shock knocked her out of her memory, and she quickly grabbed her throat to try and prevent her raspy screams from damaging her throat again. Luckily she was able to hold back the severe reaction she had. It took her 20 minutes to calm back down and stop feeling the pain from her memory.

'I can't delve into these memories until my throat heals. But at least now I understand why I didn't remember any of this.' Sapphire internally sighed as she slowly lifted her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow.

'I would have died from shock from reliving that pain every time it would bubble to the surface.' She looked around the room for another five minutes, calming herself back down before screaming to herself in her head.

'God's I'm so bored!!! I forgot how stir crazy I get in hospitals. Because of this damn aura dampener, I can't even practice my semblance or aura control.' She looks over at her left arm, squinting at the current culprit of her annoyance.

'And until I can get this IV out of me, I can't get out of this bed to exercise.' She thought for a while longer and got an idea. She starts to type on her scroll and then hits the call nurse button. Within five minutes, a nurse walked into her room.

"Is everything alright?" Sapphire replied by holding up the message she typed on her scroll.

"I have two questions. My first question is when is breakfast. My second question is, can I get some weights or something? I'm going stir crazy in here being stuck in this bed." The nurse read through the message a few times, trying to think about how to reply.

"Well, your first question is simple. I can bring you your breakfast now if you like. But because of the state of your throat, it's going to be a liquid diet for a while." Sapphire nodded quickly as she was famished since she hasn't eaten since she was admitted to the hospital.

"Your second question is a bit harder to answer. If the doctor agrees, We can get you some arm weights, but I'm not sure when you will be taken off the IV drip as we need to keep your aura drained for now. I will run it past him. Is that okay?" Sapphire quickly typed out another message.

"Yes, please. I'm just going crazy from just sitting here. If I didn't have this IV, I could at least do some push-ups or something. But I need to do something when my family isn't visiting me."

"I will make no promises, but I will try to convince him. As long as this doesn't disrupt your recovery, it should be fine." The nurse smiles slightly and then glances at the clock.

"It will be visiting hours in less than an hour. I'll get your breakfast." The nurse continued to smile and left the room. She wasn't gone for long; it was less than five minutes.

"Here you are, sweetie." The nurse smiled and handed her a water bottle filled with what Sapphire assumed to be a cocktail of vitamins. She took a sip and immediately made a scrunched up face.

"Haha, not a huge vegetable person, are you." The nurse chucked, watching how Sapphire made such a grimaced face over the drink.

"We can't give you something sticky or sweet like fruit because it could irritate your throat. It's just different types of vegetable juice for now." Sapphire just nodded her head, knowing that nothing can really be done about it.

"If you need anything, just hit the call button." The nurse smiled and left the room again to attend to her duties.

'This is going to be a long recovery.' She slowly sipped the drink and managed to finish it right when her family showed up.

"Hello, Mom. Hello Dad. …..Hao." Hao's right eye twitched upon reading his sister's greeting.

"Really? You had to type out a pause before acknowledging my existence?" 

"............................Yes." Hao's eye just twitched again in response.

"Hmhm. Well, if you're teasing your brother, then you obviously are feeling better than yesterday." Li commented on her children's antics with a chuckle.

The rest of the visit with her family was mostly just small talk. All of them chatting about what plans they have for the week. Sapphire, describing her liquid diet, Hao making fun of her for it, which caused both himself and Sapphire to quarrel with each other. Their mother chuckled at their antics, and their father had a small smile on his face. The smile vanished, however, as he started to speak up. 

"Sapphire, I have some news for you." She turned her head to give her full attention to her father. Zhang continued.

"Now, before I start, I would like you to wait to comment until I finish speaking. Can you do that for me?" Sapphire nodded and started to type.

"I'll type out any questions as I think of any, but I won't show you them until you are done. Deal?"

"That's fine." Zhang smiled as Sapphire prepared to type, wondering what he would bring up.

"I have some connections at one of the hunter academies that goes fairly high up the chain. I've talked to them about your situation, but not specifics." Sapphire raised an eyebrow at this but didn't interrupt him. She just continued to type out her questions.

"They would like to have a video call with you when you are better, a form of an informal interview. This does not guarantee your entree, but they are at least entertaining the idea. I can already guess some of your questions. It's Atlas academy, and the person I know is Winter Schnee. She is a special operative who works directly under General Ironwood. If you have any questions, you can show them to me now." Sapphire was still typing out some questions when her eye twitched on the last one.

"Did you try Haven or Beacon? Or did you just have no contacts in those schools? What exactly did you tell them about my situation? How do you know Winter Schnee? Why Atlas?!?! You know I'm sensitive to cold climates. I would be miserable there!!" The last line made Li and Zhang chuckle a little. Hao just rolled his eyes.

"I do know some people at Haven and Beacon, but they are just some teachers. Nobody is high enough that would entertain my idea, so I haven't bothered to try them." Sapphire just nodded at that answer, as it made some sense. Unless a teacher had some kind of pull, there would be very little chance of getting an exception for enrolling a student.

"I merely said that you have an odd medical history, and the rest will be for you to explain if you wish to. I know Winter by working with the Atlas military on a large raid about four years ago. She wasn't that high in the military ranks yet; she was just another 'grunt in the trenches,' as some would say. She saw my skill, and once she became a specialist, she would send some high paying contracts my way once in a while." Sapphire glanced over at her mother as she noticed an odd twitch in her expression.

"And yes, I know you're very sensitive to cold, but if you really want to be a huntress, this might be your only shot." Sapphire just sighed and started to process this information. Her father was right. She may hate the cold because of how uncomfortable it made her feel. Still, she would not turn down the opportunity to join an academy. She quickly typed some more responses for Zhang.

"Please try your contacts at Haven and Beacon as well. Even if the chances are slim to none, I would like to know what choices, if any, I have."

"Alright. I'll contact them when we are done here." Sapphire nodded but then noticed that her mother's expression had hardened even further since a few minutes ago. She had a hunch why and decided not to press it. Hao, however, didn't have the same thought.

"Is there something wrong, mom? You've had an angry look on your face for a chunk of this conversation." Sapphire dropped her head into her hand and shook it in annoyance. 

'How can Hao be this slow about this topic? Why couldn't he figure it out.' Zhang started to sweat visibly, and Li's glare just got worse, and Hao was just as confused.

"Mom, if you are going to have a jealous fit, then please have it outside of my hospital room. Thank you." After Li saw the message, her face flushed in embarrassment.

"Okay, little gem, we will see you later. Your father and I will have a long talk about why he didn't' tell me that he was still talking to Winter at home." Li was staring daggers at Zhang, and he decided to look everywhere else except at her.

"Let's go, Zhang. Meng, we will see you at home if you want to stay here a little while longer."

"No, I have some friends to meet up with, so I'll leave Sapphire to her boredom. See ya later." Hao said as he quickly fled the room, sensing the tension from their parents.

"Bye, little gem." Zhang didn't say anything; he just waved awkwardly as Li stared him down as they left the room.

'Not sure if I want to know more about that story or not. I pray dad didn't cheat, or else there will be a funeral to attend.' Sapphire just stayed lying down in monotony until around 5 P.M. Then, the nurse came in with some moderately light weights with the doctor's permission.

Sapphire was elated that she could finally do something. She started lifting right away. It was tedious, but it was better than staring at a wall. 

The rest of the week passed without much fanfare. Sometimes her parents would visit, sometimes it was just Hao. She eventually learned from Hao that their Dad had a small attraction to Winter but never acted on it. When their mother found out, she got extremely jealous, but she dropped it since nothing happened. Still, she assumed that since he was no longer taking contracts in Atlas, communication between them stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anybody still bothering to read this, thank you. I know this is probably a really awkward spot to end the chapter but I felt like this chapter was starting to get a little long and I didn't want to break up the next part. Sorry if the end felt a little awkward. When I write this I don't really think about chapter breaks. If you you have any questions on something you would like clarified please leave a comment and I'll give you an answer.


	3. Chapter 3

"At least dad didn't cheat.'' Sapphire typed quickly and showing it to Hao.

"Well, to be fair, he met Winter only 4 years ago when we were in his life then, and I've only seen him loyal to mom." Hao said, shrugging his shoulders. Sapphire merely nodded at the fact.

"I've seen what Winter looks like, though, and she is beautiful. She's too old for me to take a shot at but seems a bit young for dad for it not to look awkward. That and he's married with children." Sapphire just rolled her eyes at how her brother viewed the situation. 

"Anyway, mom sent me here for an update. How's your progress?" Hao dropped his little playfulness and adopted a more serious look.

"The doctor said I'm now able to swallow small things. So I'll be taken off of the IV drip and will be taking my medication through pills. This means I can finally get out of the bed and do some real exercises for a change." Sapphire smiled. Hao, seeing this smiled back. Happy that his sister was getting better.

"Mom will be thrilled. We know how you can get when you don't release your stress through working out." Sapphire just raised her eyebrow at that comment.

"We are not stupid, Sapphire. You are brilliant and clever because of your memory." Sapphire raised her scroll and started to type before Hao put his hand on hers, forcing her to stop.

"To be clear, I have not told mom and dad about it, but we can still observe your behavior." Sapphire closed her mouth and decided to let Hao finish. He lowered his hand again before he continued.

"I remember when you would confide your fears and hopes with all of us. You would cry when you were hurt, and you would laugh when you were happy. Now though, we rarely see any of those emotions." Sapphire looked down at her hands at this point. Unsure of how to talk about this subject. Hao noticed this but kept going.

"We see you smile, but we can tell it's fake. We see you laugh, and we can tell you are just humoring the situation. We can see when you are hurt, but you bottle it up. Dad, mom, and I have talked about this with each other. We are concerned about you." Sapphire just sighed before typing.

"When did you notice?" Hao put on a sad frown as Sapphire looked up at him.

"I only noticed this last year. Mom said she noticed it at least 3 years ago. Dad never said when, only that he noticed the changes."

'Guess I am still a child thinking I was hiding it, especially from my mother, who is an expert at reading people.' Sapphire momentarily looked at the ceiling. She was starting to feel a swirl of emotions that she didn't want to deal with right now.

"I'm not going to discuss this right now. There are a lot of things I will discuss when my throat heals completely. If mom and dad are worried, then tell them that. For now, please drop it." Sapphire slightly pleaded, praying that Hao would comply.

"Alright. Just so you know, we are concerned, but we never wanted to push you into telling us. It's just that this recent development made us worried about your overall health. We remember what happened 2 years ago. Although at the time, I didn't think anything of it, but …" Hao was cut off.

"DROP IT! PLEASE!" She all but shoved the scroll in her Hao's face.

"Alright, alright. I'll drop this for now and let mom and dad know what to look forward to." He eye's the clock.

"I have an appointment with some friends, so I'm going to head out now. Get well soon, sis." Sapphire just nodded her head without looking up as Hao left.

Tears started to well up in her eyes as she tried not to remember that incident—the broken bodies of a group of students. The blood dripping from her knuckles. The burning sensation from her arms. She violently shakes her head and pushes that memory to the back of her mind. Making the burning sensation from her arms slowly disappear.

'Guess I've been neglecting my mental training. I better start that up again.' Sapphire looked sad before crossing her legs in her hospital bed.

She luckily stumbled across her mental training when she was looking for ways to block or seal off memories. Through this research, she discovered the name of the type of memory she has. Less than .5% of Remnant's population, according to scientific estimates, has an eidetic memory. Through this training method, she could lock away a memory but still be aware of said memory. If she needed to recall it, she could do it with some concentration. This way, a memory may not come to her, causing her pain or negative emotions in the middle of a fight.

She spent the rest of the night meditating, trying to relock some memories. She wasn't as proficient as she would like to be with it. Some memories, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't lockdown. 

Luckily they aren't memories that would cause her physical pain. They would cause emotional distress, however. Whenever those memories hit her, she would always have tears fall. She wouldn't cry per se, but she isn't able to stop the tears from falling. Many memories could do that to her: being told that she was abandoned, seeing her family being scared of her the first time.

But there were some happy memories: the first time Li hugged her after calling her mom for the first time. The same thing with Zhang and calling him dad, being able to confide in Hao about her memory issues. If any of those bad memories came to her in the middle of a fight, or even in training (which sometimes happened), it can cause her mind to wander and force her to create big mistakes.

Even though all of this worry, she still knew better than to neglect her sleep. It was already 11 P.M. when she realized she couldn't lock away any more memories, so she decided to stop and sleep.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's been 1 month since the incident. Sapphire could now talk without too much pain and eat solid food without any more stinging pain. She never thought she would take the ability to eat solid food for granted until now. The doctor has been slowly taking her off her aura suppressants, so her aura has been slowly coming back. Today, the doctor would officially discharge her.

'Finally, I'll be able to go home…..and have a multitude of conversations that I'm not looking forward to.' Sapphire sighed as she started to massage her temple. Her body was already getting tense, anticipating how the conversation will go.

"Sapphire?" She turned her head to look at the nurse.

"Yes?" She answered with a small smile.

"The doctor is ready to see you. Please follow me." The nurse smiled back and gestured Sapphire to follow her.

"Alright." She got off the bed and followed the nurse through the hospital's corridors, weaving in between the other patients and hospital staff, until they reached the doctor's office in charge of her case. Sapphire entered while the nurse left to do other work.

"Well, doc, what's my prognosis? Am I free?" Sapphire asked as she entered the office, stopping just in front of his desk. The doctor looked at her with a slight smile on his face.

"Yes, Sapphire, you are free to go. You won't be needing the pills anymore either. I'm not sure what can be done about the dust in your body." He said, dawning a small frown.

"So nothing new then?" Sapphire's small smile didn't fade. She was getting used to adopting a smile that wasn't a smile.

"No, unfortunately. We found trace amounts of dust in your muscles and bones, nerves, and veins with all of the tests we put you through. There are even some tiny amounts in your brain. Luckily there is very little there, so it's not an immediate concern." Sapphire knew all of this for most of her life, so it wasn't a surprise to her.

"I'm sorry, but Vacuoian technology just isn't advanced enough for this." The doctor was despondent as he leaned back in his chair.

"What else is new. Any solutions for this just won't be here then." Sapphire grunted out in response.

"But for now, you have a clean bill of health, relatively speaking." Sapphire slightly scoffed.

"I hope you don't come back here, but knowing how most of the staff know you, I think that is just wishful thinking." Sapphire raised her hands defensively.

"Hey, I don't like it any more than you do. I'm training to be a huntress after all. Hospital visits should be normal."

"Yes, but not at the frequency or severity that you have." The doctor just shook his head at how Sapphire was responding.

"It's hard to argue with those facts. Stay safe, doc." Sapphire turned around to leave, and before she left, she heard the doctor respond.

"You as well, Sapphire." She smiled without turning around and walked out the door. She walked home with a lot of trepidation. Her mind was swirling with hopes that she could keep her emotions in check and not blow up or break down. But she was very high strung since she has had a whole month to think about this.

Even with being able to exercise in the hospital, it only served as a temporary distraction from her thoughts. As she approached her front door, she unconsciously clenched her knuckles. Not enough to make them pop but sufficient for her nails to start to dig into her skin.

"I'm home." She yelled out as she entered the door. She walked into the living room and saw the rest of her family sitting there on the couch. Her mother was sitting with a relatively neutral stance. Her father was sitting with more of an aggressive forward lean. Hao was leaning back and gripping one of his elbows, appearing to more defensive between the three.

Then she saw the chair sitting there in front of the couch. The family called this the 'hot seat.' Whenever the rest of the family came to a consensus on one of the other members, they would all sit like this, with the accused taking the 'hot seat' so everybody can hash things out.

"So, we are doing this right away?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Sapphire still wanted confirmation.

"That's correct, Sapphire. Please take a seat." Zhang replied, motioning toward the chair. She just nodded and took a seat.

"Where do we want to start this?" Li spoke up.

"How about the night of your panic attack? We have yet to answer your question about us still being afraid of you." Zhang answered, keeping eye contact with Sapphire. She nodded in response.

"Alright. I'm assuming all of you have long since discussed that. So what is your answer to that?" There was silence as Li, Zhang, and Hao just glanced at each other for a good minute before Zhang spoke up.

"We do have fear towards you, Sapphire, but possibly not how you would expect." She remained silent, keeping stone-faced. She did not want to jump to conclusions; she'd let them continue their answer.

"Your mother and I are not scared of you but scared for you." Zhang then motioned over at Hao.

"Hao has admitted to us that he does hold some fear towards you, though. Hao, could you explain that to her, please." Hao just sighed, looking up at the ceiling briefly before speaking.

"I honestly didn't see this as a big deal. I've talked with many people at Shade who had siblings and asked how they feel about them. Some of them share some fear towards the other. Especially if they are stronger in combat." Sapphire's look faltered a bit. She still wasn't entirely sure what Hao was getting at. That was when Hao raised his arms in frustration.

"Look, your odd combat style basically stomps me no matter what I try. We've spared for a large chunk of our lives, and I haven't beaten you once." Hao raised his index finger to emphasize his point.

"If you were serious or snapped, I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up in the hospital with all my limbs broken. My fears are only increased, considering I've noticed you holding in your emotions." Hao began to calm back down visibly and leaned back on the couch.

"It's only a matter of time before you snap. I'm not a therapist like mom, but I'm not blind to the obvious, sis." Sapphire was just blinking, trying to process this.

'I had no clue he held these thoughts. But it does make sense.' Sapphire's face morphed into grief as she tried to apologize to her brother.

"Sorry Hao, I don't mean to put that fear on you." Hao just waved it off.

"It's fine. As I said, for siblings who train to be hunters, that fear is pretty common when one is stronger than the other. I don't take it personally. I'm more concerned about you bottling everything up." Sapphire glanced down slightly.

"I do have some reasons for that." At this point, Li spoke up.

"And what would those be?" Sapphire looked over at her mother, and she began to scrutinize her face as she answered.

"Before I answer, I need to know. Are you asking as a therapist or as a mother?" Li had a look on her face that said she was not expecting that question.

"As your mother, obviously." She smiled, but the smile didn't look natural.

'She's lying. But she will psychoanalyze me no matter what role she plays. I won't complain for now, but she better not push it…..calm down. Don't lose control.' Sapphire closed her eyes, trying to calm down her spiraling emotions. When she opened them, she saw that none of her family's expressions changed. Sapphire was glad that she didn't show her inner strife this time.

"One of those reasons is the fact that I picked up on the fear all of you were displaying towards me. Speaking of, you two never explained your thoughts. Why are you scared of me?" This time Zhang jumped in before Li did.

"We are scared about how this affects your health. Your mother and I are aware of some of the things that happened to you before we brought you home. We know there could be terrible side effects from that." Sapphire squinted her eyes while Hao shifted his body to get a better look at his parents. The mention of side effects caught his attention, and he adopted an anxious look on his face.

"We saw that happen a few times these past few years. We're fearful of how it's affecting your mental state. You seem to be retreating inward and not talking to us like you used to." Sapphire began to grip the chair's arms lightly and began to demand what she has wanted to know for a while.

"How much do you know about what happened to me?" Li responded this time, keeping a straight face as if she addressed one of her patients.

"As much as we have told you. We don't know anything more than that." Sapphire studied her face and couldn't hold her tongue this time.

"You're lying." Li just blinked, and her ring finger twitched slightly. They were such small movements that unless you were looking for them, you wouldn't have seen them, but Sapphire caught them.

"I'm not lying, Sapphire. We don't know any more than what we've told you." Sapphire gripped the chair arms tighter. Hao looked over and noticed, and his face was growing more concerned. He was about to speak up when Sapphire beat him to it.

"You have a great poker face, mom. It goes with your job. But even you have tells." Li's face didn't twitch this time, but she still had a subtle movement with her ring finger.

"I know you are lying. Your eyes and finger movements are telling me so." Li looked down and then clasped her hands together to keep her fingers still.

"Look, we all have secrets we keep from each other. I'm not saying we shouldn't have secrets. I'm not calling any of you out on your own secrets. But both of you are lying to my FACE about my past, about what exactly happened!" Sapphire started to yell, and her shadow beneath her chair began to stir. Hao noticed a small aura flare around her knuckles, and then Zhang chimed in, hoping to calm her down.

"Sapphire, please calm down. We simply didn't think you would be able to handle what we know. We were just scared for -"

"SHUT UP!!" Sapphire stood up as her shadow rose like a wall and broke the chair beneath her, creating a type of cocoon that gently wrapped around her. Zhang acted on instinct and stood in front of his wife protectively. There was a trace of fear in his eyes.

"There it is. Fear. You are more scared of me than for me, Zhang." His eyes twitched, and he frowned, being called his name instead of 'dad' or 'father.' It hurt.

"Do you want to know why I'm so high strung all the time and why I bottle everything up?" Hao realized what she was going to say but wasn't quick enough to stop her in her emotional state.

"I have an eidetic memory. Do you know what that means?" She asked rhetorically, but Li decided to answer.

"You have perfect recall?"

"That's right, Li." Sapphire answered the same way she spoke to Zhang, and Li had a similar pain on her face by being called her name by her daughter.

"I don't know if I've had this since birth since there are parts of my early life that I can't remember." Sapphire closed her eyes in reflection before slowly opening them again.

"Maybe I also gained this during the experiments. Right now, I don't know. But do you know why I had that outburst a little over a month ago? It's because a huge part of me being experimented on came back to me." Zhang and Li looked confused. Hao just winced as she confided him before on what perfect recall actually entails.

"With my memory, I can remember anything I've read or experienced with perfect clarity as if it was happening again. But that means I also relieve any pain I have in that memory. There is no turning that off." The shadow around her began to wrap itself around her tighter. It was almost as if it was trying to hug her in comfort.

"So when those memories came back, I relived every experiment that piece of shit scientist put me through. All of those experiments back to back. The ones that the majority of these scars on my body came from." Zhang sat back down and held his wife's hand in worry, and Li just started to weep, hearing the pain that her daughter just relived.

"While I was in the hospital, I decided to sift through them briefly. Almost passing out each time. I wasn't able to sift through all of them, though." Sapphire's voice started to sound more melancholy, and the shadow began to loosen up around her.

"But I did learn that my hair color was originally a bright red. The experiments changed my hair color to that dark blue color." Sapphire paused, catching her breath, her shadow slowly sinking back into the ground and becoming inert again.

Meng, Li, and Zhang started to notice a dripping sound. They looked at Sapphire's face and saw she was shaking and crying. She continued to speak with her voice cracking.

"Do you know how maddening it is? To remember all of this pain but not being able to remember your own parents. I still don't know what happened to them. Did they abandon me? Did they die, and I was orphaned? Did they sell me to that sick bastard?" Sapphire looked up at the ceiling, tears streaming down her face, and began to whisper.

"Did they even love me?" Once Li heard that, she jumped off of the couch and embraced Sapphire. She didn't say anything; she just held her in a motherly embrace. Sapphire slowly wrapped her arms around her to hug her back. Crying and shaking. Zhang and Hao both joined in the hug. They stood there in a family hug for a good 10 minutes before they all felt it was time to separate. Sapphire was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry for not acknowledging you as my parents, and about the chair." She looked down in shame. Zhang put his hand on her shoulder.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Sapphire." Li cupped her hand on Sapphire's cheek

"If anything, we should apologize. We should have confronted you about this much sooner instead of letting this fester for so long. Even if you feel like we aren't your parents, we will always see you as our daughter." Li smiled at Sapphire, and she smiled back. Both of them looking at each other with tears in their eyes.

"And brother." Hao chimed in, his eye's misty, trying not to cry.

"Thank you." Was all Sapphire was able to squeak out before her stomach growled. Zhang laughed.

"Haha. Well, I guess this means you are feeling better after getting this off of your chest. Come on, let's eat lunch."


	4. Chapter 4

"Sapphire, I have a question?" They were all in the middle of eating some sandwiches that Zhang had made when Li spoke up. Sapphire paused mid-bite to look at Li.

"Yes, mom?" Li smiled at being called that again.

"You said that some memories recently 'unlocked' for you. But what triggered your previous episodes?" Sapphire put down what was left of her sandwich and looked at Li for a few seconds before answering.

"I've only recently learned, within the last six months, a trick to prevent those from happening." Sapphire looked down as she tried to find the best way to describe this.

"I would often find myself daydreaming and remember some training that I did, or a painful memory of making somebody afraid of me. So I would start to feel those emotions or pain as if it just happened. I repressed those to the best of my ability until I just popped. That is what happened last year as well as 3 years ago." Sapphire finally looked up at Li again, noticing the sad look in her eyes. She then glanced over at Zhang, who had a similar look but seemed to be more curious at second glance.

"What are you doing to prevent that?" Zhang asked.

"I meditate." Sapphire answered simply. Zhang just raised his eyebrow, clearly wanting a more detailed answer. Sapphire rolled her eyes, gave in, and started to go into more detail.

"I've found a way to 'seal' my memories, sort of. I'll be able to call it if I need to review something, but they shouldn't pop in my head suddenly. If my mind was wandering during a hunt, it would put my life and any others with me in danger." Zhang nodded at this and pulled his hand to his chin as he began to think about this.

"Maybe Atlas is the best place for you after all."

"Why do you say that, dad?" Sapphire was confused as to why Zhang was so sure of this.

"Well, Atlas is basically a military academy. That also includes mental discipline. They probably have other ways to assist you in this." He said matter of factly. Sapphire took a moment to think about this. She glanced over and saw that Hao was busy stuffing his face, not at all caring for the discussion. She smirked slightly and then saw that Li was eyeing her while still eating her food.

"Speaking of, when would you like to speak to Winter?" Zhang interrupted Sapphire's thoughts. She quickly gave him an answer.

"Considering how far Atlas is, as soon as possible. If I'm able to be accepted, it will take some time to plan the move there. I don't want to wait until the last minute and rush there." Zhang just nodded and sipped his coffee.

"Alright. After lunch, I'll contact Winter and see when she can speak with us."

"Thank you." Sapphire smiled as she took another bite of food.

"No, thanks is necessary, honey." Sapphire just smiled at that as she continued eating her lunch.

'It's been a long time since I actually felt accepted in this house. Perhaps that is my own fault, though. They were always accepting. I just got caught up in my own head.' Sapphire was processing these feelings as she spent the rest of the lunch in silence, listening to her family's conversations with each other.

After lunch, Sapphire decided to go relax in her room while Zhang went to contact Winter. Hao went to watch TV in the living room while Li started doing the dishes from lunch. Sapphire just laid in her bed for 15 minutes, staring at her ceiling, until Zhang peeked in her room.

"Winter said she will call us for the interview tomorrow at 8 sharp. I asked if we could all be a part of it, and she said that was okay." Sapphire sat up to face Zhang.

"Alright, thanks, dad. I'm just going to meditate for a few hours and then go to bed. Let mom and Hao know that if they hear me scream every now and then not be alarmed." Zhang quickly frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Sapphire continued before he could.

"The only way for me to seal these is to relive them fully so I can compartmentalize them, in a manner of speaking." Sapphire put on a small smile to let him know that this had to happen, and he shouldn't be too concerned.

"Is there anything we could do to help?" She failed at putting his mind at ease. Sapphire's smile took on a more dispirited look.

"Not really. Just lay out some pain medication, and if you hear me scream for more than 5 minutes straight, come in and snap me out of it." Zhang's eyes widened slightly.

"There have been times where I've gotten trapped in a single memory in the form of a loop because I just couldn't work past the pain." Zhang's voice almost got stuck in his throat, but he forced out what he wanted to ask.

"Is that what…?" Sapphire just nodded at him.

"That is what caused the first incident a few years ago. I got stuck in a loop when I was first struck by a Beowulf when I was in the desert training." Sapphire closed her eyes, carefully trying to keep the details thin, so she doesn't accidentally recall the pain it caused.

"I couldn't stop reliving it, and the pain eventually made me snap." Zhang just stood wordlessly. Sapphire opened her eyes and looked at him, her legs now crossed.

"It's okay. The scars are pretty faded compared to my other ones. It could have been a lot worse if my aura wasn't as strong as it was." Zhang just blinked. Wondering just how much he didn't know about Sapphire, that feeling was showing on his face.

"Don't." Sapphire's voice became stern. Zhang snapped out of his thoughts.

"Don't what?"

"Don't think that you are a bad father because you didn't see this. I was hiding it, and I was cautious in making sure I didn't slip." Zhang's face perked up a bit, but he still showed that he didn't like this.

"There are still things I'm hiding from you, dad." Sapphire sighed slightly.

"Can we have this discussion another time? I already had one breakdown today." Zhang's face morphed into a sad smile, and he nodded at her.

"Alright, I'll lay out some pain meds on the kitchen counter for you. Sleep tight, little gem."

"Goodnight, dad." Sapphire smiled as Zhang shut the door as he left. 

'Now, for the fun part.' She smirked to herself. She went back to her earliest memory that she remembers when she was strapped to the table and the doctor looming over her.

She stopped the memory and took in all the details of what she was currently looking at. When she saw nothing she could really learn, since the doctor was standing in the way of some kind of electronics, she let the memory continue to play.

Then came the moment she could never brace for; when the injection happened, the pain started. In her memory, she was screaming, but the current her was sweating profusely, gritting her teeth and holding back her screams, as she feels the pain in her arms. She stopped the memory during the split second of her flailing when she could see some words behind the doctor as he moved over to his instruments.

She focused on anything, such as words or pictures on the equipment. The first thing she noticed was something that looked like a chemical formula. She recognized a few of the symbols as being lighting and fire dust. But the rest of the chemicals were unfamiliar, and the combination was very foreign and odd. She focused on another screen that looked to be research notes. The font size was too small to make out anything, but the notes' author was a larger print. 

'Doctor Merlot? Is that the name of this man?' She took a better look at his body now that the light wasn't blinding her. His back was turned so she couldn't see his face, but she took note of his features to compare to anything she could find later.

She couldn't gather anything else, so she pressed on in the memory. The pain was excruciating. She felt electricity spasm through her arm, from her fingertips to her shoulder. She felt her nerves catch fire, her muscles continually twitching, and the marrow in her bones felt like they were melting. All of this was metaphorical, but that is how Sapphire would describe the feeling.

After 10 minutes, it finally subsided. It was then that Sapphire's eyes landed back on the console, the doctor wasn't there anymore, and the formula was slightly different. She felt a presence on her left side and turned just in time to watch a syringe put another dose into her left arm. The feeling was immediate. She felt the pain all over again. This time she felt electricity go from her fingertips all the way up to the back of her neck. It caused a chain reaction and made her right arm act up again. The response got so intense that the lighting dust started creating Lichtenberg marks on both of her arms and around her neck.

At this point, out of the memory, Sapphire was biting her lip so hard that she drew blood. Her arms were starting to visibly spark with electricity, caused by the residual lighting dust in her arms being activated by her aura. She muffled herself as long as she could, but Sapphire couldn't help but give a loud scream before she collapsed on her bed.

She lost consciousness in her memory, and that knocked her out and back into reality. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 11 P.M. She tried to get up, but her body wouldn't let her. She continued to struggle for 10 minutes, but she couldn't move.

She felt her eyes start to moisten and began to sob. The feeling of being helpless was becoming too much to bear. She tried to hold back, and only small muffles came through as she wept, unable to move her body. It felt like she was crying for an eternity, trying to move her body through the spasming pain.

The sound of her door opening caught her attention. She turned and saw her mother standing there in her nightgown with the pain medication and a glass of water. Li came over, with her own distraught look, and helped Sapphire sit up. She put the medicine in her mouth and then gave her some water spilling some of it on her chin. Li laid her back down, Sapphire still crying through this. Her mother crawled into bed with her and just held her. 

"It's going to be okay little gem. Just focus on my voice and relax." Li whispered to Sapphire and then started to hum an old lullaby she sang for Sapphire when she first entered their family. Her mother's presence and the exhaustion of reliving the memory helped overcome the pain in her mind. She slowly started to drift off, before going completely, she whispered a "Thank you." The only response she got was her mother kissing her on her forehead before continuing to hum.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sapphire slowly opened her eyes. She felt more rested than she has felt in a long time. This includes when Sapphire woke up in the hospital. She never thought that only having her mother by her side as she fell asleep would calm her down as much as it did. She looked around until she spotted the clock.

'6:30. Only an hour and a half until the meeting with Winter. Hm? Somebody is cooking.' Sapphire smelled something being cooked. Then she noticed that she could move her arms again. They were only slightly sore but not crippling like they were last night.

'It's also been a while since I slept without adjusting the audio on my hearing aids. I guess mom didn't want me to miss out on her humming.' Sapphire smiled and decided to get out of bed to clean herself up.

She was covered in sweat and tears from last night. She hopped in the shower for a quick clean up, washing the grime from her body and tears from her face. After she got out, she went back to her bedroom wearing a towel to grab some clothes. She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror on her closet door.

'My roots are starting to show again. I'll need to dye my hair soon. If I can get in Atlas, then I hope they allow people to dye their hair.' She thought to herself as she went back to pick her clothes for the day. After putting on a white sports bra, she put on a white muscle shirt that is slightly loose to give some flexibility. She also chose a pair of matching white panties and some blue jean shorts that went down to her kneecaps. After brushing the knots out of her hair, she noticed it was 6:55. 

She started heading toward the kitchen to check on breakfast. She saw her mother finishing up cooking some pancakes. She saw a spread on the table of some waffles, bacon, and sausage patties.

'Mom only really does this when she wants to make one of us feel better. It's basically a giant sign to everybody else that somebody had a bad night.' Sapphire thought to herself, knowing that both her dad and Hao will be aware that something happened last night. She smiled as she walked up to hug her mother from behind.

"Hm, Sapphire?" Li was shocked a little at the sudden hug but continued to cook flip the sausage patties so they wouldn't burn.

"Thank you for last night." Sapphire mumbled as she let go of Li and took a few steps back.

"You don't need to thank me for that little gem. If I heard you in pain, I would drop anything for you, anytime, anywhere. I would do the same for Hao and your father." Li turned her head to look over her shoulder at Sapphire and smiled.

"Nothing will stop me from trying to lessen any of your burdens or pain."

"I know, mom, but I still want to say thank you."

"Your welcome." Li laughed slightly, then she pointed at the table with her spatula.

"Now sit down and start eating. Our meeting is in a little less than an hour." Sapphire did as she was told and started eating. She was starved from last night's events, so she ate more than expected. As soon as Li was done with the sausages, she joined her in eating.

Soon Zhang and Hao joined them, both stumbling into the kitchen at the same time. Clearly not fully awake yet. Once they saw the meal, though, they knew that Sapphire had a poor night. Zhang had already assumed so since Li never came back to bed after she went to check on Sapphire last night.

"I'm surprised you are still wearing those sleeveless shirts, Sapphire." Hao suddenly spoke up, being slightly pensive with his tone.

"Why is that Hao?" Sapphire looked up from her plate with a confused expression on her face.

"Well, considering how you let your feelings be known to all of us yesterday, I figured you would be very self-conscious about the scars on your body. Especially the ones on your wrists." He nearly whispered the last part as his eyes locked onto them. Sapphire put her fork down and began to rub the scars slightly.

"It's because I'm not ashamed of them. Even my self inflicted ones." This caused both Li and Zhang to stop eating and gave Sapphire their full attention.

"Yes, I know that can cause people to be scared of me, and depending on who, it could make me very uncomfortable, but I'm not ashamed of them. These scars just reflect a part of my life. Mostly my low points, but a part of it nonetheless." She smiled sadly before shaking her head, somewhat pushing away those negative thoughts.

"I didn't know you felt that way." Hao had a surprised look on his face and decided to take another bite of his bacon before it got cold. Sapphire just shrugged her shoulders like it wasn't a huge deal.

After they all finished eating and cleaning up, they had about 10 minutes until the meeting. The family each grabbed a chair and sat in front of their mother's computer in her office that she had in the house. Winter was very punctual, and the call came in at exactly 8 on the dot. Zhang answered it on the first ring, and Winter became visible on the computer screen.

"Hello, Mr. Hao. I assume this is Mrs. Hao, your son Meng Hao, and your adoptive daughter Sapphire Zhūwǎng?" Winter said simply, nodding at each one of them.

"That is correct, Ms. Schnee. I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your day to accept this meeting. I'm sure this is very unorthodox." Zhang replied, nodding back to her. Li put on her work face and kept a small smile on it. Sapphire stayed sitting straight, unsure of what expression to show. And Hao squirmed a little bit with the stern look Winter was giving all of them.

"If she is as talented as you say, then no thanks are necessary. Ms. Zhūwǎng would be an incredible asset to Atlas." Winter motioned toward Sapphire before continuing.

"I've seen some of her training videos, and she is indeed very skilled, but I'm more concerned about her mentality. Otherwise, I would have already put through the paperwork to accept her." Sapphire was a little surprised. She didn't think somebody this high up in a military command would bother to look at her training and sparring videos.

"So, Ms. Zhūwǎng. I would like to not tap dance around the topic. I want you to tell me why you had those 2 emotional outbreaks. At Atlas, you will be put under a lot of stress and forced to follow many rules. If just simple stress makes you snap, then even with all of your skill, I would not be able to recommend you." Winter focused on Sapphire. In response, Sapphire took a deep breath and finally decided how to approach this topic since she saw what kind of personality Winter has.

"I do appreciate you getting to the point. It's a simple answer, but it can be complicated to explain. This may get a little long-winded. Fair warning." Sapphire tried to ease Winter into this sensitive topic to the best of her ability. Both Zhang and Li looked over at Sapphire since they never knew the entire story either. But Hao squirmed a bit more in his chair.

"Please, go ahead." Sapphire then began to first explain her past incidents and the cause for both of them.

"You have an eidetic memory? Are you positive?" Winter squinted her eyes, which seemed to be demanding the truth.

"I'm more than positive, Ms. Schnee. I would never make lite of something like this." Sapphire replied with a deadpanned look.

"Alright, but you only gave me a brief summary of each incident. I understand the cause well enough. But I need to know what you are aware of during the incident. Did you know you were attacking other students? Or did you hallucinate them as part of the memory loop you spoke of?" Winter needed specifics, and she continued to press Sapphire for answers. What surprised Sapphire was that Winter's face never seemed to falter. If there were any facial ticks, she failed to notice any.

"For the first incident, I was aware, but at the same time not aware." Sapphire tried her best to explain the feeling, using some odd hand movements that didn't really help convey anything.

"It was after school when some of the students stayed behind to mock me for my scars. Normally I just ignore it and walk away, but when they mentioned me getting struck by a Beowulf….it triggered the memory." Sapphire reached down and touched the left side of her abdomen. Li put on a concerned face, and Zhang decided to put his hand on Sapphire's shoulder. He hoped it would keep her from slipping like she mentioned before.

"I started to relieve the pain and fear of getting attacked over and over. The kids started to approach me and goad me more since they saw fear on my face for the first time." Her grip on her abdomen tightened as she was starting to get lost a little in her thoughts.

"I was aware they were just students in my class, but I kept feeling like a Beowulf attacked me, so I attacked back." Sapphire started to feel the pain of the attack again, but she held firm. She grits her teeth slightly to continue the story.

"The students fought back with good reason. I've never blamed them for defending themselves, but I was in a panic, and I didn't stop until Hao found me almost beating one of them to death. Their leader probably would have died if not for Hao snapping me out of it." After she finishes, Sapphire closed her eyes and locks that memory back up. Once she does, her abdomen's pain starts to lessen until a light throb that will eventually go away after a few hours.

"How did you snap her out of it?" Winter asked curiously.

"I shot her in the temple." Hao interrupted. Winter's eyebrow shot up, and both Zhang and Li gasped and shouted as they never heard of this part.

"WHAT!!!!??" Sapphire grunted and just placed her head in her hands.

'Gods dammit, Hao. Why can't you ever learn subtlety?' Sapphire was cursing her brother in her head.

"I knew she would be fine." Hao defended himself at the sudden declaration while raising his hands defensively.

"If I tried any hand to hand, I would have gotten floored. I could see Sapphire had plenty of aura left since it was flaring because of her emotions. That was why I took a shot to her head. If it didn't knock her out, it would have at least snapped her out of it." Winter gave an expression of slight understanding. Zhang dropped his face into a more neutral one since he could also understand Hao's reasoning. Li, however, still looked livid at what Hao just admitted. Before she could start to yell, though, Sapphire chimed in.

"Don't blame Hao. If he didn't' do that, I would be either in a psychiatric hospital or a prison cell right now." Li calmed down at that notion, leaning back into her chair.

"What about your second episode?" Winter decided to pick up the conversation again. She was leaning slightly more forward, seemingly interested in how all of this happened.

"That one was different." Sapphire sighed a little. Hao also leaned back in his chair now that he wasn't being glared at anymore.

"Instead of physical pain that caused it, it was emotional pain. You see, my mother here is a therapist." Sapphire glances at Li and back to Winter, who nods in agreement.

"As a result, she is really good at reading people's expressions and ticks. I learned how to do the same by watching her as well as reading some of her books. Having the ability to perfect recall made it rather simple for me to learn the techniques. Because I know how to read people, I started to see my family showing fear towards me." The air in the room became tense. Even Winter's expression shifted slightly, feeling the tension through the call. Sapphire slowly blinked but kept her eyes locked with Winter.

"I didn't say anything at first because I thought it might have been a passing emotion or misread them. But the feeling would keep showing itself for a long time. I've been aware of it for at least over a year and a half." Winter opened her mouth to speak, but Sapphire beat her to the punch.

"Before you ask, we have very recently had a talk about all of this. We have all come to an understanding and are starting to move on from it." Winter closed her open mouth. She instead nodded to Sapphire to have her continue. The tension in the air lighted up slightly. Sapphire released a heavy breath while Li gripped Zhang's hand, and Hao shifted to look at the floor.

"I had those emotions bottled up, and I felt betrayed. So I started to dwell on it and feel those feelings of dread over and over again. This time there wasn't really a trigger. I just had a bad day on top of these compounded feelings and lost myself in fear and pain." Sapphire started to squeeze the arm of the chair, again trying to stop the feelings she remembered to affect her.

"Pain over feeling abandoned and fear over my father or brother trying to kill me because of their own fear." Winter's look softened slightly at that confession. Li was trying to fight back her own tears, while Sapphire just took another deep breath.

"I was in a combat class when it happened. This time nobody was crippled, but I sent the whole class as well as the teacher to the ER before I snapped myself out of it." There was a pause which Winter used to ask a question she had been curious about.

"I read the report. But I'm having a hard time understanding this since there are no details. How were you able to send your instructor, who is a professional huntsman, to the infirmary?" Sapphire laughed slightly, but it was hollow.

"First, the instructor wasn't using his weapon, and I know he was trying to subdue without trying to hurt me. He put a pretty large handicap on himself." Like before, Sapphire started to lock up the memory so her emotions would go out of control.

"Regarding my fighting style, I can't really explain it. I'm not even really sure where I learned it. There is still a large chunk of my memory that is unknown to me, or I at least haven't been able to go back to that memory without passing out. I just know it's a close-quarters combat type of style that is extremely effective against human opponents. It is far easier for me to show you than explain it." Winter nodded as that was an acceptable answer enough for her.

"Assuming that this interview goes over well, I would look forward to experiencing it. I've seen some of your video's but seeing it in person is different from a screen. Please continue your story." She gestured towards Sapphire, looking a bit more relaxed than before.

"I didn't resist the authorities. I spent a week in prison before I was released on bail, thanks to my parents." Zhang smirked slightly at that.

"I was lucky that I was able to graduate from Oscuro because of these incidents. And now I'm a bit of a leper to all the higher level huntsman academies. Hence this odd interview that we are having right now." Winter sat there with her eyes closed. It looked to be that she was considering the story.

"You said that you were being mocked over your scars. How did you get them? I can't really see a reason to make fun of somebody over scars." Winter was perplexed at the thought of this, especially in Vacuo.

"I hope you understand that I'm hesitant to trust you. Will my choosing not to answer this question affect your decision on my admission?" Winter raised her eyebrow.

"Will your answer change depending on my answer?" Winter squinted her eyes slightly as she asked.

"Yes." Came the answer.

"No." Was the immediate reply.

"Then I would prefer not to answer. At least not over a video call." Sapphire was trying to compromise without being too obvious.

"Okay, that is fair as it was a more personal question. I apologize if you felt like I was overstepping your boundaries." Winter lowered her head slightly.

"You don't have to apologize, Ms. Schnee. I've learned that people are inquisitive creatures. I've been asked this question many times. Most of them aren't as understanding when I say that it's not their business." There were a couple minutes of awkward silence before Sapphire spoke up again.

"Do you have any other questions, Ms. Schee?" Winter blinked before answering.

"Yes, if you still had a choice between all 4 academies. Which one would you choose?" The tension in the air was finally gone. This caused Hao to eventually perk up a bit and sit more straight in his chair.

"Honesty, it would be Shade. If I had the choice, I would want to stay near my family." Sapphire said matter of factly. Zhang and Li both turned to Winter, curious about her reaction.

"Where does Atlas rank on your list?"

"The bottom, but not because of the militaristic style that it teaches with. I appreciate that kind of discipline."

"Then why is it at the bottom?" Winter was confused, and her face showed it.

"The weather."

"Come again?" For the first time, Winter had a shocked expression on her face. Sapphire chuckled to herself, seeing it.

"The weather. Due to an...incident during my early childhood, I became very uncomfortable in cold weather. I much prefer hot climates. Which is another reason why I would prefer Shade." Sapphire adopted a small smile while Zhang traded his for a slight frown as he glanced back at Sapphire. More specifically, her arms.

"I see. How much do you take stock in the knowledge you've learned at Oscuro?" Winter returned her face to her regular stone-faced expression.

"You know of my memory, so I only need to look at something once, and it's memorized. But I could read about the dust concepts and recite it, but it doesn't mean anything if I don't understand it. If I read a history lesson, then that knowledge is useless unless I understand what it is trying to convey. Not just recite it verbatim." Hao suddenly groaned, and everybody turned to see what happened.

"God's, you're such a nerd, Saph," Hao muttered just loudly enough for everybody to hear him. Sapphires' eyes slightly twitched. However, Winter caught the twitch and had a very slight smirk that you would have to really focus on to see. Suddenly Sapphire struck her fist out to her side, popping Hao in the side of his head, knocking him off his chair and falling to the floor.

"Ow! That was my favorite cheek!" Sapphire just turned her head and growled at him.

"I could go for your favorite rib instead." Li jumped in, shaking her head in exasperation. 

"Children, we are in a meeting. Behave, please." Li's eyes were stern.

"Sorry, mom," They both said in unison as Hao sat back in his chair. Zhang chimed in. 

"Sorry, Ms. Schnee."

"No need to apologize. You all just helped me confirm what kind of person Ms. Zhūwǎng really is." Zhang and Hao had a confused look on their face while Li and Sapphire had a small smile and a glint in their eyes.

"I will push forward my recommendation towards General Ironwood about your admission. Mr. Hao, I will inform you of his decision. It was nice to meet all of you. I hope to contact you again with good news. Please have a great day." Winter said matter of factly. The family was shocked at the sudden declaration before Sapphire snapped out of the stupor first.

"Thank you for seeing all of us, Ms. Schnee." Sapphire chimed in before the call ended. She took a deep breath, not realizing how tense she was.

"What was that at the end?" Hao couldn't contain his question, confusion shown on his face.

"Your sister and I figured it out. It makes sense considering Sapphire's history." Li chuckled slightly as she stood up to start moving her chair back.

"You mean the outbreaks? Sure they were discussed, but I don't recall anything really being said that said they could be prevented. No offense Sapphire but you have to admit you could have another outburst." Hao carefully eyed his sister, ready to dodge another strike if she threw one.

"None taken. I'm well aware, but I've gotten a far better handle on things since I started meditating. But that wasn't the point." Hao just stared blankly, still not getting it.

"The point, or maybe pretense, would be a better word for this meeting, was to see what kind of person I am. Ms. Schnee doesn't know me. For all, she knows I could be acting. But she could see how we genuinely acted with one another. Most of the time, if you observe somebody with their family, you get a sense of what kind of person they are. It's tough to act differently in front of your family unless all of them are acting." Li just nodded.

"If you decide to give up on being a huntress, you are more than qualified to be a therapist, Sapphire. I know you won't, but the offer stands. It always will be as long as I'm alive."

"I know, mom. Thank you." Sapphire gave Li a quick hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first time writing Winter. I think I did a decent job with it. I found her rather fun to write, even though she didn't have much dialog in this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
"I'm going out for a run and maybe hit the training area at Oscuro while I still have access to it." Sapphire said as she was passing by Li. 

"Okay, honey, call if you run into any issues." Li said with a smile as she looked up from her scroll screen.

"I will, and I should be back before dinner." She said as she headed for the door.

"Bye, dad. Bye, mom, bye Hao." Sapphire waved as she walked out the front door. Once she walked past her front yard, she started to jog towards the town's outskirts and head to her usual route.

As she jogged on her route, she would notice the same familiar scene, people moving to avoid her. Some people would look away and pretend they didn't see her. Others, mostly younger kids, would show a fearful look before giving her a wide birth. Even some would openly show their hostility and wouldn't move until the minute she passed by. Most of them were kids in her grade or siblings of her classmates. 

As much as Sapphire would love a person to talk to and call a friend, she couldn't. She was a social pariah. The only person her age that talks to her like a friend are Hao. This was the case even before the first incident. The scars on her arms and legs frightened her peers, and eventually, rumors started to spread on how she got them.

All sorts of rumors were spread, none of them right, but it was enough to make her an outcast with nobody willing to talk to her. The only people who would speak to her were the instructors and other staff at Oscuro. That was only because it was their job. Even they tried to deal with Sapphire as little as possible. Some professors were more willing to help, but it was minimal and stopped after the first incident. Sapphire would start to feel numb to this after a while. She yearned for friends, but she was beginning to question if it was worth the trouble anymore.

She ended her jog as she approached Oscuro Academy. Her breathing is slightly labored, her arms and face glistening slightly from sweat. As she entered the building, she noticed her history instructor. She glanced at him and tried to pass by him, but he saw her and waved her over. Sapphire stopped mid-step and, after a moment, decided to humor what he would say.

"Hello, Sapphire." He had a small smile on his face, though it looked a little strained.

"Hello, professor. Is there something you need from me?" Sapphire kept her tone and body language neutral. She was getting frustrated internally but didn't show it. The instructor gripped his hand on the nearby classroom door as he answered.

"I just wanted to inform you that you have until the end of the week to clean out your locker. After that, you will no longer have access to the building." Sapphire shifted her weight slightly and squinted her eyes. The instructor gripped the doorknob a little harder in response.

"Of course, Sir. Is that all?" She asked impatiently.

"Yes. Please enjoy the rest of your day." He quickly opened the door and left before Sapphire could respond to him. Sapphire huffed a sigh and continued to her combat locker by the training room. She knew this wasn't a typical protocol; this was specific to her. All other graduates could use the facilities as long as they scheduled it through the academy. Nobody else has ever been banned before.

'I hope if I can get into Atlas that things will be different there.' Sapphire silently tried to raise her spirits over the situation.

As she approached her locker, her breathing had returned to normal, and she wiped the sweat off of her forehead to prevent it from getting into her eyes. She stopped in front of her locker and began to look at the graffiti scrawled on it.

'Let's see what's on it today.' Sapphire started to name off the words that she saw.

'Killer, murderer, freak, orphan. Nothing really new there.' She then saw a few more words that had legitimately surprised her.

'Whore, Rapist. That's new. I've never shown any interest in anybody.' Sapphire went deeper into her thoughts, gripping her chin between her index and thumb.

'I can't imagine somebody thinking I was hitting on them since nobody talks to me and I don't talk to them.' Sapphire squinted her eyes as she was trying to wrap her head around this.

'Unless it's somebody at combat class saying I sexually assaulted them, there is no validity to it. But when has that stopped anybody?' She shook her head, lowered her arm, sighing to herself, and opened her weapon locker. She reached inside to grab her weapons, a pair of Desert Eagles called Fang and Tarsus. They have been heavily modified by her to allow any kind of dust to be fired from it and increase the power of the shots. She grabbed all of her clips, loaded one clip into each, and attached the rest to her belt before closing the locker.

She started walking toward the gun range portion of the facility. She put her guns into their secondary form, a long-range sniper rifle, by combining both guns. She stopped in one of the spots for distance shooting and then turned down her hearing aids so the shots wouldn't deafen her. However, before Sapphire could begin, she heard someone calling her. She lowered her rifle and turned her hearing aids back to ordinary volume as she turned to face the person.

It was her new combat teacher, and following him was someone from her graduating class. She recognized his face since she spared against him a few times.

"Sapphire, I need you to come with me now." The instructor said sternly as he stopped in front of her. He was leaning forward slightly, putting himself in an aggressive-looking stance.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Laal?" Sapphire asked while separating her rifle and holstering her guns.

"This student is accusing you of raping him. Please come with me so we can sort this out." The student in question had his arms crossed over his chest with a small smile on his lips.

'So he is the one spreading the rumor.' She squinted slightly when she glanced at him and then turned her attention back to Mr. Laal.

"With such a serious accusation, I'll go ahead and contact my father." She quickly pulled out her scroll, but before she could contact him, the teacher tried to grab the scroll. She promptly jumped away and, in a snap decision, set her scroll to record before putting it back in her pocket.

"Any reason why you tried to grab my scroll just now?" Sapphire asked with a scowl on her face as she tried to make sure to keep both him and the student in her field of view.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Contacting your father isn't necessary." Mr. Laal put on a small smile as he apologized to her. Sapphire frowned further at the unmistakable fake smile he was giving.

"I know the protocol for accusation's as serious as rape. They state that 'the parents of both parties are contacted and brought before the headmaster before the authorities are called.' So why are you preventing me from contacting mine?" Sapphire squared herself as she saw Mr. Laal's smile drop slightly, and the boy behind him take a few steps back, the smirk no longer on his face.

"Because we already contacted your mother, so you don't need to bother with calling your father." Mr. Laal said as he took a step toward her.

"Then I'll verify with my mother." She went to grab her scroll again before the instructor spoke up again.

"You don't need to verify anything. You just need to follow me to the office." His tone became more solemn as he spoke, and his smile was no completely gone from his face. Sapphire took another step back, making sure she kept a safe distance so she could react if she needed to.

"Or I could just contact the authorities right now to have them see the validity of these claims." At this point, the boy spoke up.

"Just stop trying to hide the fact that you took advantage of me. You're just a predator who should be locked up!" The boy screamed out, causing Sapphire and Mr. Laal to glance at him.

"If you think I'm trying to run from this Nichel, then why stop me from contacting the police?" Nichel's face twitched, and he looked at Mr. Laal.

'It looks like he's trying to come up with an excuse.' Sapphire thought as she pulled out her scroll again, still recording audio. Instead of dialing her father, she started to text him instead. Mr. Laal thought she was trying to call him again, so he rushed at her repeatedly.

"Stop!! Give me your scroll and come with me!" Still in the middle of texting, Sapphire just skipped out of his lunge, then he stopped and attempted to backhand her with his fist. She just jumped up in the air and landed on his arm and balanced there for a few seconds as she finished her text 'Oscuro training grounds now!!' She jumped off of his arm as Mr. Laal tried to swipe at her with his other hand. Saphire landed a reasonable distance behind him before hitting send. She then turned to face him as she put the scroll away. Mr. Laal had a relieved look on his face. He thought she was trying to call instead of text and that she just gave up with his constant attempts to stop her.

"Fine, Mr. Laal. I'll humor whatever it is you think you're doing." He smiled at Sapphire since she was starting to be complicit with him but then frowned again as she continued to speak.

"I put my scroll away, but only an officer has the authority to take it since I'm no longer a student here. You lost that authority the moment I graduated." She looked relaxed, but she was actually tensing her muscles. She knows how vindictive everyone in this academy can be, so she made sure she can retaliate against any sudden moves.

'I just need to stall for a little bit now. It should take dad about 10 minutes to get here from home, assuming he looks at it right away.' Sapphire was planning what to do as Mr. Laal slowly started to walk around her.

"There is no reason to be worried, Sapphire. If this really is a false report, then that can be determined in the headmaster's office." Mr. Laal said as he stopped his circling, adorning another smile. Nichel stayed behind Mr. Laal again, staring at Sapphire with that smirk again.

"Normally, I would follow you. But you have just tried to attack me and tried to grab my scroll." She pointed at him with her accusation, but his smile never faltered.

"I can't think of any reason for this as I was not breaking any rules. I followed the school protocol. Please, give me your explanation." Sapphire lowered her arm and put her hands slightly behind her back, closer to her holsters.

"Listen, girl, I don't answer you. You answer to me. Now come." Mr. Laal said, dropping his smile again and cautiously walked toward her.

"So you will attack me again for no reason other than not listening to you." Sapphire knitted her eyebrows, grabbing Fang and Tarsus. Getting ready to attack in an instant.

"I can't imagine what Nichel offered you to make you risk losing your job for a false report." Sapphire gestured her head towards Nichel, making Mr. Laal stop, and Nichel was starting to look nervous.

"It's not like he's some rich boy. Nobody in Vacuo is. So what on earth did he offer you? Unless you are some form of a family member." Mr. Laal and Nichel both went pale with that.

'Huh, so that's what it is. Those two don't look that similar to each other. Maybe their cousins.' Mr. Laal seemed like he was about to lunge at Sapphire again, but at this point, a noise near the entrance of the training grounds caught everyone's attention.

"What is going on here?" It was from Zhang Hao.

'He must have run here; it's only been 7 minutes. He doesn't even look winded.' Sapphire smirked at the thought before speaking up, she still kept her grip on her weapons, but she did release some of her tension.

"Hello, dad. I'm being accused of rape by this young man here." She motioned toward Nichel with her head again.

"And Mr. Laal was trying to prevent me from contacting you as the school protocol dictates. He also said he already contacted mom, but I doubt he did." Zhang's face didn't change as Sapphire spoke, but she noticed a subtle hardness in his eyes. The only other times she's seen him with that look was after a contract had gone wrong.

"He didn't because before I left, your mother went to her office as she has a few patients scheduled this afternoon." He turned to look at Mr. Laal and Nichel.

"How about we all head to headmaster now." Zhang had a stone face on as he glared at Mr. Laal.

'Been some time since I saw dad this mad. Well, these two brought this on themselves.' Sapphire thought as she finally let go of her guns and adopted a normal posture again.

"Okay, dad, let's go." Reluctantly Mr. Laal and Nichel walked with Sapphire and Zhang to the headmaster's office. The headmaster was surprised to see any of them, clearly not being in the loop.

"Mr. Hao, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The headmaster put on a genuine-looking smile gesturing that Zhang should take a seat.

"My daughter is being accused of rape by this young man here. I'm here as protocol states. Your instructor seemed to have tried to ignore that policy, though." Zhang said matter of factly as he sat down, his face unchanging.

"What." The headmaster looked furious as he looked at the instructor.

"Sir, she is lying." Mr. Laal quickly pointed toward Sapphire.

"We asked her to come to the office, but she resisted and wouldn't listen to reason." The headmaster's expression went back to neutral as he looked at Sapphire. 

"Do you have any evidence that they were breaking protocol?" The headmaster's face was unreadable; Sapphire didn't interact with him enough to know how he actually felt about the situation.

"Well, there are always the security cameras that you had installed. They don't' have audio, but I can take care of that." As she took out her scroll, Nichel chimed in. 

"S-security cameras?" He stuttered, clearly unaware of this information. His eyes grew wide with worry as Sapphire answered him.

"Yes, security cameras. They were installed last year. They are fairly well hidden, but only if you never look up. I'm surprised Mr. Laal wasn't aware. But I guess you are a new instructor that only started this past year." Sapphire explained this as she took out her scroll. Mr. Laal's expression paled at her words, and he became scared when her scroll started to play their conversation. As the audio played, the headmaster began to scowl again. And Zhang's expression darkened as well. Once the audio finished, Zhang began to speak with venom laced in his voice.

"What kind of game is your school playing at, headmaster? I used to take pride in graduating from Oscuro before attending Shade. Are these the type of people you hire? Ones who will break the academy rules?" There was a small sound in the room, and as people looked toward the source, they noticed the chair's metal arm was starting to warp under Zhang's grip. The headmaster just shook his head, getting everybody's attention back on him.

"No, Zhang. I admit that this fell under my radar. When a serious accusation like this happens, the protocol is supposed to be followed to the letter." He glanced at Mr. Laal before returning his attention to Zhang.

"I also would have been informed beforehand. But I had no clue about this. That tells me they never planned on bringing Sapphire here." He then turned to give Mr. Laal his full attention.

"You, Sir, are fired. I'll make sure that you are never hired as an instructor at any school again." The headmaster's tone had finality in it. He made no room for discussion. But Mr. Laal still tried.

"But-" Mr. Laal stuttered.

"No but's." The headmaster raised his hand.

"However, before you leave with your pink slip, both you and the boy will tell me about this supposed rape. I hope you both have evidence of this, as a false report just to disparage someone will not be tolerated." Mr. Laal sent a glare to the boy. It looked like he was silently blaming Nichel for his predicament and telling him to speak up.

"W-w-well, Sir, I was walking near this bar last night, and I thought I saw Sapphire leaving the bar." He gestured toward Sapphire, sweat becoming visible on his forehead.

"So I went to confront her about a minor going to a bar. She looked really drunk when she grabbed me and dragged me into a nearby alley." His eyes kept darting around the room, trying not to make contact with the headmaster or Zhang.

"That was when she forcibly pulled down my pants to have her way with me." He nearly whispered the last part as he began to twiddle his thumbs.

'His body language was all over the place. He came up with that on the spot.' Sapphire began to think, not really surprised things have escalated to this.

'That means they were never thought their plan would fail.' During this tale that Nichel was spinning. Sapphire grabbed her scroll to put it back in her pocket. That was when her father spoke up. Clearly still furious and unimpressed given his tone.

"Is that the best you could come up with? I'm not happy with the way everybody ostracizes my daughter." He looked at Sapphire briefly with a look of sadness that lasted for a moment before looking back at Nichel again.

"Still, it is a reality that aside from her family, she has nobody else. You think she would go to a bar that can easily tell she is underage? I know she doesn't have a fake ID, but I guess we can have somebody check with the bartender. Which bar was it?" Silence, there was nothing but silence as Nichel had sweat starting to drip down his face. He looked like he was trying to come up with something but couldn't think of anything. That was when the headmaster spoke up.

"Both of you put your scrolls on the table." He pointed to Mr. Laal and Nichel. As he was told, the boy did as he was terrified at how this was unfolding, but Mr. Laal was hesitant. But after another moment of glaring from the headmaster, the instructor complied as well.

"Hmph." Zhang grunted loudly, making both Nichel and Mr. Laal jump slightly.

The headmaster started to go through Mr. Laal's scroll first, then went through Nichel's. After searching both of them, he copied some data from both scrolls to his own. He sighed and shook his head at what he found.

He next pushed a button for the intercom in front of him. Once the other line picked up, Sapphire heard a voice that she recognized. It was the assistant headmaster, who is also in charge of the disciplinary system at Oscuro.

"Yes, sir?" The man said, his voice as deep as always.

'I'll never understand why somebody who was discharged from the Vacuo military decided to become an assistant headmaster at Oscuro instead of Shade.' Sapphire was momentarily lost in her thoughts, trying to figure out why somebody with that kind of experience wouldn't just become a full-time Huntsman. She shook her head slightly as she continued to listen to the conversation.

"I'm sending you a list of names and a location to your scroll. Take some of your disciplinary squad and round them up. Once you have them put them in one of our open classrooms and then contact their parents. I've unfortunately let this nonsense go on long enough." The headmaster's tone was firm but sounded tired near the end.

"Yes, Sir. I'll contact you when it's done." The line went dead as the call ended.

"Mr. Hao, Ms. Zhūwǎng, I can't express how sorry I am that this happened. Especially to you, Ms. Zhūwǎng." He looked down in shame as he said this, surprising Sapphire. He looked back up to address Sapphire directly.

"A lot of the instructors at Shade actually wish you could attend there. But the outcry from the parents put too much pressure on the academy." He sighs, going into a more relaxed posture, intertwining his fingers together.

"Everybody here knows your history, and the rumors will follow it. This will make your squad fearful of you, and that will bring Grimm when you go out on missions and put your squad in unnecessary danger." He was trying not to sound accusatory but still get his point across at the problem.

Sapphire just nodded and internally sighed. It was something she had thought of before. It was inevitable for group hunts, so Sapphire had no choice but to accept how rumors could affect a squad's emotions to a new member joining them.

"It's not something somebody your age should have to deal with." He shook his head but then smiled slightly.

"There is something I think you should know, though." Sapphire brought her head back up to focus on the headmaster.

"I spoke with General Ironwood before you arrived." Sapphire blinked, clearly caught off guard by this.

"The general contacted you?" Zhang spoke up in shock and concern. The headmaster just chuckled at the reaction.

"Yes, I got off the phone with him before you all arrived in my office. Don't look so concerned." He tried to wave off their concerns.

"He asked me about you, and I explained the situation. I also gave him my recommendation for your admission to Atlas." He focused in on Sapphire's shocked face; her mouth was slightly agape.

"You did? Why?" Sapphire couldn't help but ask. She knows she caused many school issues, and she has never really met the headmaster, so there was no favoritism there.

"Why wouldn't I? You are at the top of your class, both academically and combat wise. Sure, you had some outbursts, but that happens every few years due to varying reasons." He just waved off her concerns.

"You're not' the first, and you won't be the last. You have been the biggest, however." Sapphire just had a look on her face that seemed to be screaming, 'Is this pity?'. The headmaster caught on to that and adopted his more neutral tone.

"Make no mistake. I am sorry for how you have been ostracized here, but my recommendation is not pity. I gave my recommendation because of your skill and nothing more." He stared at Sapphire unflinchingly as he said that, hoping that she would realize he was genuine about it.

"Thank you, headmaster." Zhang chimed in since Sapphire was in shock. It was one of the few times, she could count it on the one hand, that somebody other than her family had shown kindness to her.

"I wish you luck on your future endeavors Ms. Zhūwǎng. You're free to go." He smiled as Zhang got Sapphire up and started toward the door.

"Wait!!!" Mr. Laal yelled out. Sapphire jumped slightly. Everybody turned to look at him.

'I forgot he was here.' Sapphire's good mood was starting to sour again, and it was showing on her face.

"Is this even legal? You can't just go through our scrolls and give out information!" Mr. Laal started to rant, jumping out of his seat to confront the headmaster. The headmaster remained calm and stonefaced as he spoke to Mr. Laal in a very business-like manner.

"Apparently, you aren't aware of the laws here in Vacuo and Coquina. As a headmaster, as long as it involves the safety of the academy's students, I'm allowed to commandeer any personal property as long as it concerns the problem at hand and as long as it's given of their own free will." He then stood up to get eye level with Mr. Laal and stared at him directly in his eyes.

"Neither of you refused when I asked for your scrolls. You were neither tortured nor threatened. Since you are the boy's family, I figured he contacted you; I looked for the text on his scroll and looked for the message on yours. No laws were broken." There was silence as Mr. Laal slumped in defeat. Zhang broke the silence as the headmaster sat back down.

"Headmaster, I feel you should reconsider your hiring policy when it comes to your instructors." The headmaster just sighed.

"I agree with that thought, Mr. Hao. I plan to change that so something like this will not happen again. Have a good day, you two." Both Zhang and Sapphire slightly bowed their heads as they left the room and then the academy to proceed home.

"I'm sorry, Sapphire." Zhang said as he hung his head slightly and sagged his shoulders.

"You have nothing to apologize for, dad." Sapphire tried to cheer him up, already knowing what he was going to bring up.

"I saw the graffiti on your locker on my way in. How often does that happen?" He turned his head to see how she would answer. Sapphire just sighed.

"After the first incident, it happened about once a week. After the second incident, it was every day. Though the words whore and rapist were new today." She explained the detail so matter of factly that Zhang had to stop walking to process this for a moment.

"That long? Why didn't you tell your mother or me?" He was still frozen in place, with confusion in his eyes. Sapphire just shook her head.

"Because that would make it worse, dad. It will just make them attack harder in retaliation after an adult tells them no. Remember, because of mom, I think differently from other kids my age." Zhang finally started to walk again, and Sapphire stayed walking next to him.

"I think more like an adult, and I can see what would happen by seeing it happen to other kids who get picked on and bullied." Zhang just sighed at Sapphire's answer and shook his head.

"I don't remember Oscuro or Shade being like that when I was attending." Sapphire rolled her eyes at that.

"That's because you were popular, dad. You weren't an outcast." Zhang opened his mouth to retort, but Sapphire lifted her finger to stop him.

"Don't deny it. The stories you and mom tell us are proof enough." Zhang closed his mouth but decided to go with a different thought.

"I just don't like feeling like I can't protect you. You're my daughter. My job is to protect you before my role as a huntsman." A smile crept onto Sapphire's face.

"You and mom have already saved me and protected me so many times. You took me when I was a broken little girl. You helped me learn basic things since I either forgot them or never learned them. You and mom stayed up with me during my first panic attack. You canceled one of your contracts to rush me to the hospital when I had the flu." Sapphire stopped as they were right outside of their house to look at Zhang.

"Don't ever think you weren't a good father to either me or Hao. You've been the best I've ever had." She embraced Zhang in a loving hug holding him tight.

"Thank you, a little gem. I just feel like I'm still failing you." Sapphire squeezed him tighter, burying her face into his chest before she let go. They both started to walk into the house.

"You're not, dad, don't ever think you are." Sapphire said quietly, quickly glancing at him.

"Honey, Sapphire, can you come in here, please? I have Ms. Schnee on the line." Zhang and Sapphire looked at each other in confusion and then anticipation as they headed towards Li's office.

"Mr. Hao, Ms. Zhūwǎng. It's good to see you again." Winter said curtly, slightly nodding at each of them.

"Hello, Ms. Schnee. I honestly didn't expect to hear from you for another week. I guess things move quicker in Atlas." Sapphire smiled slightly as he stepped in view of the camera, making sure Winter could see her properly.

"Normally, Ms. Zhūwǎng, you would be right. But General Ironwood was very interested in your case. After mine and Oscuro's headmaster's recommendation, he has decided to accept your admission with a full scholarship." Sapphire was elated but then concerned. Her smile dropped as she started to question Winter, who hasn't smiled or frowned during this conversation.

"Full scholarship? No offense Ms. Schnee but I don't think I've warranted anything that would deserve that. Can you tell me why I was granted this? I feel like there is a catch to this." Sapphire unconsciously gripped her knuckles. Beside her, Zhang and Li shared a look of concern as they noticed Sapphire's nervous tick.

"Very perceptive, Ms. Zhūwǎng. There is a small catch for this." Sapphire's eye twitched at that. Both Li and Zhang perked up at what Winter just said.

"We would grant you this as long as you let us experiment with your eidetic memory." Li jumped in, barely letting Winter finish.

"Are you suggesting that you will experiment with my daughter's brain!?" Li's voice was deep. Zhang was shocked by how much venom and underlying threat were laced in that voice. He quickly put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Sapphire just continued to stare at Winter, trying to read her. Winter was stunned before she corrected herself.

"N-no, no. I'm sorry if I gave that impression. We will just have some psychologists talk to you throughout your stay in Atlas to document how your memory works." Li calmed down, and Sapphire chimed in.

"That would be more than fine. I'm hoping to learn more about this myself. I'm still under the impression that I wasn't born with this." Winter raised her eyebrow at the comment. Sapphire just raised her hand in a gesture to Winter.

"I'll explain that when we meet in person." Winter nodded in return.

"Very well, When can I expect you here?" Sapphire thought for a moment before answering.

"If packing goes smoothly, I'm hoping in 5 days. 7 if there are delays." Winter nodded again.

"Very well. I will look forward to meeting you in person. Mr. Hao, Mrs. Hao. It was a pleasure to see you again." Winter then ended the call. Sapphire suddenly found arms wrapped around her.

"I'm so proud of you." It was Li who had embraced her to give her congratulations. 

"Thanks, mom." Sapphire smiled before frowning again.

"But there is a small detail that Dad and I need to discuss with you. Hao also, but given his popularity with his peers and how quickly rumors spread, I suspect he probably already knows." Li let go of Sapphire abruptly.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Sapphire quickly turned around to try and keep Li from overreacting.

"It's okay, let's wait for Hao." Suddenly there was a slam as the front door was slammed open.

"Sapphire! Are you here?!" Sapphire just rolls her eyes.

"I'm in mom's study Hao!" Sapphire quickly turned to Zhang.

"Dad, you may want to make sure he didn't break the door." Zhang just grunted and rubbed his temple with his left hand.

"Ugh, right. Meng! If you broke that door, it's coming out of your allowance!" Zhang said as he walked out of the room, passing Hao speeding by.

"Sorry, dad." Hao then hugs Sapphire; she rolls her eyes again but also smiles.

'Well, he wouldn't be Hao if he wasn't overprotective.'

"Are you okay?" Hao's voice was tense with concern.

"I'm fine Hao, I was going to explain to mom what happened, but I wanted to wait for you and hear what the rumor mill says." Hao let go and stands so he can see his mother and Sapphire at the same time.

"Well, the rumor is that you raped a boy in your combat class and a bunch of his friends then tricked you into going to an alley by the arcade. Where they lynched you, and you are now currently laying in the hospital in a coma." Hao quickly vomited out the rumor without taking a breath, forcing him to take a long breath afterward.

"What!!?" Li yelled out at the accusation. Her face was starting to contort in rage. Sapphire just chuckled.

"Wow, they went that far with the rumor. They probably set that up for somebody to spread it after a certain time." Sapphire just shook her head and put her hand on Li's shoulder just like Zhang did.

"That rumor is very inaccurate. The boy, Nichel, tried to blame me for raping him. His older cousin was an instructor, and he was in on it." Hao's voice was dark as he started to process everything.

"Maybe I should go pay him a visit." Sapphire sighed and turned to look at Hao.

"Hao, calm down. Here is what happened." Sapphire then explained everything that happened to Hao and Li. Zhang stepped back into the room with a small scowl at Hao halfway through the story.

"And that's what actually happened." Sapphire finished her story, looking at the scowls on both Li's and Hao's faces.

"To think they would let an instructor like that in the academy." Li couldn't help commenting.

"The headmaster already fired him. I don't know what he will do with the students." Zhang chimed in, hoping to placate his wife.

"I'll find out. If that boy, Nichel, doesn't get expelled for this nonsense, I'm going to make sure he wishes he was." Hao began to crack his knuckles, making Zhang frown in response.

"There others who were willing to take part in a lynching. But since it didn't happen, I don't know what will happen with them. But I know who I can ask. I'll let you know in a couple of days." Sapphire just shrugged her shoulders, looking at Hao.

"I don't really care in general, but I am curious as to what happened to them. I knew I was a person they were scared of, but I didn't expect to be hated to this degree." Li wrapped her in another hug from behind.

"It's okay, a little gem. It's quite simple for fear to turn into anger. Those emotions slide into each other more often than not." Sapphire just nodded as she softly grabbed Li's arms that were around her.

"Yea, I know. Thank you." Sapphire took a moment enjoying the hug before she had to start the moving preparations.

"Well, I need to start packing." She said as she started walking out of the office after getting Li to let go of her. 

"Wait...packing? Why are you packing?" Sapphire raises her voice a little since she is now out of the office to answer Hao's question.

"Because I got accepted to Atlas with a full scholarship." Hao's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

"Son of bitch! Why the hell didn't you say that earlier! OW!!" Li smacked him on the back of the head, causing his head to lunge forward slightly.

"Meng! Language!" Li scolded him.

"Sorry, mom." Hao responded, rubbing the back of his head.

The rest of the night went on with some decent excitement as they ate dinner and then helped Sapphire start to pack. Tomorrow, Zhang said he would take her shopping to get some warmer clothes for the Atlas climate.

After a few days, Hao returned with what he heard, not from rumors but from some of the teachers he still talks with at Oscuro. Nichel was expelled, and this incident was put on his record. The chances are slim that any other early combat school would accept him. 

Twenty other students were waiting to attack Sapphire upon her arrival at the arcade alley. They all have been put on a very strict academic probation upon starting the new school year. For the first 6 months, they have to maintain a 3.0 GPA or fail the year and retake this year's studies. It would have been harsher, but they only had the intent to perform the lynch. Since the lynch did not happen, their punishment is relatively light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't a huge fan of this chapter, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it felt like I didn't push the plot that much. Instead, I tried the build the atmosphere around Oscuro and show what Sapphire had to deal with. I feel this slowed my pace to a halt. Maybe I'm thinking about this too much. IDK.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really made me hate the editing process. Anyway, I hope those of you who read this will enjoy it.

Sapphire only had one week until she would leave for Atlas. That week seemed to fly by for her, but at the same time felt like it would never end. There were two leading causes for this conundrum, their names being Li and Hao. During this last week, they would not leave Sapphire alone, wanting to spend all of their time with her. Sapphire did enjoy spending her last week with them, but they were making it stifling. Sapphire could only get time alone when she used the bathroom. Li and Hao even went so far as to make some temporary bedding in her room and sleep in the same room.

When Sapphire trained, Hao would also train with her, and Li would observe. Zhang was like this too but not to the extreme that Hao and Li were doing. He at least gave her some space. As the week ended, Sapphire was sad that she would be leaving her family. But at the same time relieved that she will be getting out of the stifling atmosphere that Li and Hao created.

'I was hoping she wouldn't drag this out.' Sapphire sighed to herself as Li clung to her in a bear hug.

"Mom, you know you can always call me on my scroll, right. I may not always be able to always answer because of classes, but I'll make sure to call you back." She tried to placate her mother with little success.

"I just can't help that I've failed as your mother." Li's voice was cracking as she was trying to hold back her tears.

'God's she is just like dad.' Saphire thought as she shook her head and glanced at Zhang, who had a small smile on his face.

"Look, mom, I've told you this just as much as I've told dad. You did not fail me in how you raised me." Sapphire started to explain again to Li how she shouldn't feel guilt for Sapphire's situation. It took another 15 minutes of coaxing, but Sapphire was finally able to get her mother to let go. Hao was much more comfortable as he just came in for a quick hug.

"See you later, Hao." She smiled, and they gripped each other in a bear hug, silently competing on which hug was stronger.

"See ya later, sis." Hao let go first after hearing Sapphire's joint's slightly pop. A smug smile on his face. Sapphire continued smiling as she rolled her shoulders slightly to relieve the soreness there. Then she quickly raised her hand and flicked him in the forehead.

"Ow!" Hao put on a small pout as he reached up to rub the center of his forehead. Sapphire's smile turned into the same smirk that Hao just had on.

"Don't forget to keep practicing Hao, I would actually like a challenge from you when I come back for break." Hao just rolled his eyes before retorting.

"That's assuming you don't turn into an ice cube while you're their Sapphy." Sapphire frowned in return, and before the siblings could continue to bicker, Li decided to defuse the situation.

"Can you two please tone it back? It's going to be a year before either of you see each other again." They both looked and Li and then looked down slightly.

"Sorry, mom." They both said in unison. Li just huffed at their response.

"Time to go, Sapphire. We need to head to the air docks so you can make your flight." Zhang spoke up after making sure all of Sapphire's luggage was properly secured in the car. 

Sapphire and Hao looked at each other. They knew nothing else needed to be said as they knew it wasn't goodbye. They would see each other again sooner or later. Sapphire finally got into the car and noticed Hao's eyes were getting misty; Li was trying to hold back from breaking down to cry. Sapphire gave one last wave as the car began to drive away.

The drive to the air docks was quiet. Sapphire decided to just absent-mindedly look at the scenery to help ease her nerves. Zhang would glance over every now and then and see that her leg would bounce every so often. Sapphire couldn't say she wasn't excited about being accepted into a Huntsman academy. Still, Sapphire also wanted to temper her expectations. She was currently failing at that. Zhang just smirked slightly at how she was acting.

Once they arrived at the air docks, Sapphire went to the restroom to change into some warmer clothes for the flight while Zhang started to check in her luggage. Sapphire would get into some warmer clothes after she landed, but she still wanted to be warmer upon entering Atlas. Zhang didn't have much to say as he said most of what he wanted to say through the week of packing. So he just grabbed her for one last hug before saying goodbye.

"No matter what happens when you're there, just remember that I'm proud of you." Sapphire smiled and returned the hug in kind.

"I know, dad. I'll see you later." They both squeezed each other tighter, not like the little competition that she had with Hao, but a tighter hug filled with familial love.

"Bye, little gem." They both let go, and Sapphire started walking backwards to where her flight was. Sapphire waved goodbye as the last of her luggage was loaded on the bullhead. She was the only passenger on the flight, so it took off right when she secured herself in. She started to feel her mental exhaustion weigh her down, so she decided to rest during the long flight.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

It took 1 ½ days of straight flying to reach Atlas. Because the co-pilot was a robot, the human pilot was able to rest every so often. Upon entering Atlas airspace, he sent communication's to their air docks, saying they have a person who Specialist Schnee is expecting. This allowed them to land right at Atlas academy, where Winter was waiting for them. Sapphire had woken up at this point and began rolling her shoulders to get the kinks out of sleeping in an unnatural position. As she was disembarking, she saw some of Atlases robots start taking her luggage, then she glanced over and saw Winter waiting for her.

"Hello, Ms. Zhūwǎng, it's nice to finally meet you in person." Winter greeted her, extending her hand, which Sapphire took to give a firm gripped handshake.

"I'll have your bags taken to your temporary room until we find out where to permanently station you when the new year starts." Winter gestured over to the robots that were taking Sapphire's bags. Sapphire just nodded in response. Winter then gestured for Sapphire to follow her as she turned on her heel.

"For now, please follow me to my office. There are some additional things for us to discuss." There was no tour as she followed Winter; Sapphire figured she would get a tour later or just be given a map of the area. Once they entered Winter's office, she took a seat in front of her desk while Winter took her seat at her desk.

"I'm glad you brought some appropriate clothes. When class is in session, we don't generally like tattoos to be shown." Winter started the conversation she turned on her computer terminal. The transparent screen hummed to life.

"Tattoo's?" Sapphire slightly tilted her head in confusion. A perplexed look on her face, hoping that Winter would explain what she was referring to.

"I saw them on the video chat, the ones on your arm's." Winter seemed just as perplexed that Sapphire would act like they weren't there. Sapphire raised her eyebrows before starting to laugh. This threw Winter off and caused a frown to form on her face.

"Hahahaha, sorry. I've never heard anybody call them tattoo's before. It's rather refreshing." Sapphire started to stifle her chuckle. Winter's frown lessened, but it was still there.

"They weren't tattoo's?" Winter glanced at Sapphire's arms before making eye contact with her again. Sapphire was finally reeling in her laughter.

"I thought you would have looked at my medical file." Sapphire asked, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I didn't see anything wrong with you during the video call. I looked at a short version that said how physically fit you are and any allergies that you may have. I didn't see a need to look at your full profile. This doesn't include your psych profile, however. I've read that in-depth." Winter explained her reasoning while returning to a neutral facial expression. Sapphire leaned back slightly in her chair, keeping a small, sad smile on her face.

"Well, I don't know if that will make this easier or harder." Sapphire took a second to think and stood up a take a look around the office.

"It might be simpler to just show you. Do you have someplace where I can change? A place where nobody can accidentally walk in?" Winter just raised her eyebrow. Before nodding and pointing to a door in the corner of her office.

"Here is fine. I have a bathroom in my office. It's that door right there. I can lock my door and set it for 'do not disturb.'" Winter then punched on a few buttons on her desk, and Sapphire heard her door audibly lock.

"People will see that and know I'm in a meeting, and only in extreme emergencies am I to be interrupted." Winter adjusted slightly in her chair and started to stare at Sapphire, curiosity plastered on her face.

"Alright then. This won't take too long." Sapphire sighed and then went to the bathroom. She started to remove her clothes, leaving only her sports bra and panties on. She took a look in the mirror and took a deep breath.

'I don't think I'll not ever be nervous when I have to show my body to people.' Sapphire thought to herself as she slowly turned, opened the bathroom door, and walked to the middle of Winter's office. The chilliness was starting to give her goosebumps.

She saw Winter was looking at her computer screen and before Sapphire could say anything, Winter made a small gesture with her hand.

"Sorry, but I'm currently gaining access to your full medical report. Since I'm now a little concerned with how you are acting about this." She then looked up and, upon sight of Sapphire's body, jumped out of her chair, knocking it back into the wall.

"They weren't tattoo's; they were scars." Sapphire said this, not even blushing at having somebody look over her body. She started to feel anxious but not embarrassment. She was all too used to the usual reactions. Intrigue by doctors, sometimes laced with pity. Fear and disgust by her fellow peers. Sadness by her family. Winter's response seemed to have stayed on 'shocked' for now.

'Ms. Schnee is a soldier, so she shouldn't go for disgust. Chances are it will be pity because of my age.' Sapphire thought to herself as Winter was still processing what was in front of her. Once the look of shock left, Winter's face went back to a neutral look as she began to circle Sapphie's body. After giving her body a look over, she stood in front of her and had a heavy sigh.

"Tsk." Sapphire clicked her tongue in annoyance, which grabbed Winter's attention.

"Hm? I'm sorry, Sapphire. I didn't mean to offend you." Winter no longer wore a stone-faced expression. Her face was relatively soft looking. Not entirely filled with concern but still held some worries in it.

'First name, that's new.' Sapphire thought as she started to rub her arms a little to try and warm them up some.

"No, you didn't offend me, Ms. Schnee. I'm just very annoyed by the looks of pity I get from some people. I would honestly rather take the look of disgust my fellow peers would give me." Sapphire explained in a huff, subconsciously trying not to fall into any bad memories.

"I do have pity for what happened to your body, but I also feel pride in what I see." Winter calmy explained, looking Sapphire directly in the eyes.

"Pride?" Sapphire cocked her eyebrow and tilted her head slightly in confusion. Winter smiled somewhat before answering.

"Yes, pride that you should also have for yourself." Winter adjusted her posture, putting her arms behind her back, and started to act like she was lecturing Sapphire.

"You obviously went through some form of hell somebody your age should not have been subjected to. But you survived." Sapphire kept staring at Winter, trying to figure out what game she was playing.

"These scars tell me a story of a young girl who refused to give up throughout any pain she was given." Winter's small smile never faltered. She kept looking Sapphire in the eyes through her interpretation.

"I honestly don't know how to respond to this." Sapphire said bluntly, still squinting her eyes slightly while staring at Winter.

'Everything about her says she is upfront with me. She isn't trying to be kind. She's honest.' Sapphire was trying to process this, and Winter could see this as well.

"You don't need to respond at all. I'm just giving you my honest thoughts. I'm guessing a lot of these scars are why you are so sensitive to the cold." Winter gestured toward Sapphire's body as she noticed the slight shaking.

"You are shivering a little bit. Sorry, I like my office to be a little cooler than most of the school." Winter gestured back towards the bathroom door.

"You can go and put your clothes back on. I'll go through your medical file to see if it will answer some of the many questions I now have." Sapphire just nodded her head and entered the bathroom again to dress. She felt much warmer now that she put her double layer of clothes on.

'I guess she's the opposite of me. She prefers the cold over the heat.' Sapphire thought this as she walked out of the bathroom and sat back down in her chair before. Winter was still reading the report on her computer screen. After another 10 minutes, Winter finished reading and started speaking.

"Well, this gives me details on the extent of your previous injuries, but not really how you got them." Winter intertwined her fingers together and let her hands rest on her desk.

"It's a bit of a personal matter, Ms. Schnee. I've only met you a few times. I can barely call us passing acquaintances." Sapphire slightly shifted in her chair. Winter kept a neutral face and was about to speak up before Sapphire started talking again.

"But my dad trusts you. He is a good judge of character, and he told both my brother and me that you are somebody we can trust." Winter smirked and had a small chuckle.

"Well, I hope I didn't make your mother jealous. I didn't see her smile when she was looking at me during our video calls." Sapphire sighed before smirking herself.

"Mom can be, and is, a very jealous person. Especially when it comes to my father. For as smart as she is, she is still surprisingly insecure when it comes to romance, which I will stop talking about as I don't want to make myself sick." Sapphire started to grimace at the thought; this caused Winter to have a small chuckle.

"Please don't prove my dad wrong." At that remark, Winter returned to her stone-faced demeanor.

"I will not betray the confidence that Zhang Hao has put in me. I respect him as a hunter too much to ever allow that to happen." Sapphire nodded her head.

"Well, this will take a bit of time. Please hold any questions you get until the end. I have a feeling you will have a lot of questions, and I may want to answer them tomorrow as it's getting late." Sapphire glanced at the clock on the wall and noted it was almost 7 P.M.

"If you like, you can tell me tomorrow." Winter began to stand before Sapphire gestured for her to continue sitting.

"No, I want to tell you today. I'd rather get it out of the way." Winter just nodded and motioned to Sapphire to go on with her story. Sapphire began to tell her story, at least what she remembers, about the experiments. She went over everything while leaving out some details that were more personal to herself and her family.

'This is Atlas. Maybe their scientists can find out what the chemical compound was. And maybe they can find a way to take the dust out of my system.' Sapphire was silently hoping as she looked at the clock again. It took 3 hours to go over every detail she felt was relevant. Winter leaned back in her chair in contemplation. Winter then glanced at her computer screen.

"It's 10 P.M. already. I'll escort you to your quarters. I do have a lot of questions, but those can be asked after breakfast tomorrow. Do you mind if I tell General Ironwood this?" Sapphire froze as she rose from her chair.

"Not yet. My dad trusts you, but he has never met the general, and neither have I. You may trust him, but I've had no reason to. He is just the headmaster that I haven't met yet." Sapphire was stone-faced while looking at Winter, conveying the message that this was not up for debate.

"We can discuss this with your other questions tomorrow. Is that okay, Ms. Schnee?" Winter gave a stern look of her own at Sapphire before agreeing.

"Yes, this is your business, and I will not overstep my bounds when it comes to what you want to share." Winter stood up, and Sapphire stood up a few seconds later. Winter didn't say anything more and guided Sapphire to her temporary lodging.

"I'll page you tomorrow morning when I'm ready to continue this discussion." Winter said as Sapphire entered her room.

"Alright then. Thank you for showing me the way, Ms. Schnee. I'll see you tomorrow." Sapphire said. Winter just nodded her head and walked back down the hall, presumedly going back to her office. Sapphire closed the door and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep immediately.

Sapphire woke up at 6 A.M. on the dot. Sapphire stiffly got out of bed. She took a few minutes to stretch before changing her clothes.

'No matter when I fall asleep, I will always snap awake at 6.' Sapphire absent-mindedly thought to herself. The noise of her stomach growling pulled her from her thoughts.

'Guess I'll find breakfast. I never did eat last night.' 

Sapphire walked around in confusion. All the rooms and corridors looked the same, and she was never given a map. She had no clue if she was even going in the right direction. Eventually, she ran into somebody else. They could direct her to the cafeteria, which is open 24/7 since it is run by robots.

She ordered a large breakfast since she wasn't sure what she would be doing today. If she was going to train, she wanted to have an appropriate amount of energy. She had 5 pancakes, 3 pieces of bacon, 3 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, and 2 glasses of orange juice.

'This wasn't bad, still not as good as mom's, though.' She thought to herself after feeling fulfilled from the meal. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was 7; she heard her name over the PA system.

"Sapphire Zhūwǎng, please report to Specialist Schnee's office. Sapphire Zhūwǎng, please report to Specialist Schnee's office." Sapphire got up and quickly went back to her room. Luckily her room was on the way. Once she got there, she quickly grabbed her mouthwash gargle before sprinting to Winters office.

"Good morning Sapphire. I hope you slept well." Winter looked up as Sapphire entered her office, looking slightly flush.

'She is still using my first name? I never figured her to be on a first-name basis with many people.' Sapphire wasn't sure when to bring this up with her.

"Well, I've been up since 6; I had a bit of a time finding the cafeteria until somebody pointed it out to me." Sapphire sat down in her chair across from Winter.

"I just finished breakfast when I was paged." Sapphire crossed her legs and noticed Winter's expression change.

"My apologies, during the conversation last night, I forgot to send the map of the school to your scroll. Let me do that now." Winter typed a few commands on her scroll before Sapphires beeped. She pulled it up to see a map of the school with all the locations marked.

"Now, after thinking about things, I've come to realize I don't have that many questions as you gave a lot of detail." Sapphire put her scroll away to look at Winter again. Winter began to lean forward in her chair slightly.

"But I noticed there were still some lapses in detail during certain parts. Why is that?" Sapphire sighed before answering.

"Because I haven't found a good time or place to properly go through that memory." Winter raised an eyebrow.

"I've told you about my eidetic memory. What do you know about it?" Sapphire tried to get more comfortable in her chair while slightly gripping an armrest with her left hand.

"It's a form of memory that is even better than photographic memory. I believe it's been described as 'perfect recall.' When you observe something, then you can playback that memory in perfect detail. It's brilliant when learning things or getting combat forms accurate." Winter spouted out a textbook description of the term. She then looked at Sapphire, still unsure of what she was getting at.

"You missed something." Sapphire gripped the arm tighter, trying to make sure she doesn't lapse into anything.

"Hm?" Winter raised her eyebrow; she was beginning to notice Sapphire's posture.

"The term perfect recall. Why do you think it uses the word perfect?" Sapphire shifted slightly to sit straight and stared Winter in the face, wondering if she would catch on.

"It's called perfect because all the details are there. It should be like living it again, what you see, smell, hear -"

"And feel." Sapphire interrupted Winter, causing her face to scrunch up slightly.

"I'm still not following." Sapphire took a deep breath before uttering the single word.

"Pain" At that, it seemed to have finally clicked with Winter.

"It's not just physical things. You experience the emotions you felt at that time, as well. So if I were to recall a time where I had suicidal thoughts, I would relive those emotions all over again." Sapphire squeezed her kneecap with her right hand, alternating the pressure to keep a strong memory from coming out.

"I-I see. I never considered something like that to be a double-edged sword." Winter wore a shocked expression for a moment before looking down slightly, thinking about this new information.

"It's why I so readily accepted your catch. If I can find some way to just block out any pain or emotions from my recall's, then I can sift through my memories and hopefully find the one who did this to me." Sapphire explained while trying to get comfortable again but failing at it.

"I can't promise we can ever get to that point, but I can promise that we will help you any way we can." Winter locked eyes with Sapphire again in hopes that she could reassure her.

"Thank you. I know this is for Atlas, and it doesn't really matter what my thoughts are on this, but thank you anyway." Winter had a slight twitch upon hearing what Sapphire said. 

"Do you not believe that I pushed for this because it was the right thing to do?" Winter looked at Sapphire with a slightly hurt expression.

"That depends on how you look at things, Ms. Schnee. I do trust you, but that is because my dad trusts you. At the moment, I, by myself, do not trust you." Sapphire took another deep breath before looking Winter in the eyes again. Winter herself leaned back in her chair, waiting for the rest of Sapphire's explanation.

"You are a specialist. You know that trust is earned. I do believe you have some genuine kindness in helping me with this situation. But this proposition was offered before you knew this. So there was nothing but personal gain." Winter opened her mouth to say something but then stopped, seemingly to rethink what she was about to say.

"I have no problem subjecting myself to a few tests, as long as I'm not turned into a guinea pig. I will not go back to that, and I will fight until my last breath if I ever feel that happening." There was nothing but cold steel in her voice as she said those words. Even Winter was surprised by her determination and coldness.

"You don't need to be concerned about that, Sapphire. The school would not do anything that would willingly cause you harm." Sapphire slightly smirked at that.

"Some things will require me to go through harm, though, and as long as I agree to it, then I will accept the situation. But if I disagree, then we will not do what your scientists or psychologists want." She maintained her stance as Winter had a questioning expression on her face.

"Wait, why would scientists be involved." Sapphire thought for a minute, trying to decide on what to say before answering.

"Considering I sound like I'm making demands right now, I was going to wait and bring this up later. But I guess it's a little late now. The medical report should have mentioned the traces of dust throughout my body." Sapphire gestured toward Winter's computer monitor that still had her medical record pulled up.

"Yes, there are trace amounts in your bones, skin, muscles, nerves, and veins. It's quite remarkable, really." Winter expressed with genuine surprise. Sapphire looked somewhat downcast from hearing that.

"Remarkable, right." Winter looked back at Sapphire, given how her tone changed, but before she could say anything, Sapphire continued.

"These trace amounts are slightly more than what one would call 'trace' but small enough to not be called anything else. And that is the problem." Winter wanted to interrupt, but Sapphire raised her hand to stop her.

"Please let me finish first." Winter stopped and nodded at Sapphire to continue.

"Whenever I bring up my aura to either heal or shield myself, it causes these amounts of dust to become active. For example, if I heal a wound on my arm, my aura will activate the lightning dust in my arms. Shocking the nerves and muscles in my arms, damaging them." Sapphire grabbed onto her left forearm as she was explaining.

"Luckily, I heal faster than the damage that occurs. But it takes me twice as long to heal a simple wound." Winter started typing on her computer, seemingly taking notes.

"I want to be a huntress, but issues like this will cause me to shorten my life or die in the field because I couldn't heal an otherwise not fatal wound because of this damn dust in my body." Sapphire heaved another heavy sigh, causing Winter to momentarily stop typing and glance at Sapphire before she went back to typing again.

"I've asked the doctors in Vacuo, but they said the technology they have there isn't precise enough for what I asked. I'm not asking for it all to be taken out. I don't think that's possible. I just need enough of it out so that my aura can't activate it anymore." Winter finished typing after seeing that Sapphire was done explaining and turned her head to face her again.

"And since Atlas has the most cutting edge technology, you figure we should have some means to help you." Sapphire nodded her head.

"That's correct." Winter looked down slightly before telling Sapphire what her thoughts are.

"I'll put in a report to the general and see what our scientists say about this." Sapphire leaned forward slightly and motioned towards Winters's desk.

"I have a few more things for your scientists. Can I have a pen and paper?" Winter grabbed some from your desk and tossed them to her. Sapphire wrote down the equation with the symbols she saw from the cocktail she was injected with.

"See if any of them recognize what this formula is." She tossed the paper back to Winter, who began to look at it out of curiosity.

"Any reason why you want to know?" Winter looked up from the paper to look at Sapphire.

"When I get an answer-back, I will let you know." She stared unblinking at Winter, who just stared back for about 30 seconds before giving in.

"...fine. Anything else?" Winter put the paper down beside her while glancing at the clock.

"Yes, but this is for everybody in general. I saw a name in my earliest memory. Dr. Merlot. I would like any information on what he was researching." Sapphire noticed the smallest tick. If she didn't learn under her mother, then she would have missed it.

"I haven't heard of that name, but I'll ask around and let you know." Winter's face remained neutral, but that tick from earlier was all Sapphire needed to see.

'She is lying, but there could be many reasons why. His file could be classified for all I know.' Sapphire thought before deciding not to pursue this for now.

"Thank you. I don't have any other relevant questions. I am sorry, though. This was meant for you to ask me questions, not the other way around." Winter's face relaxed, and she had a small smile.

"That's fine, Sapphire. I do have questions, but you would not be able to answer them. At least not yet with the state that your memories are in." Sapphire hummed slightly.

"Well, I promised you answers, and I will deliver them. Ask whenever you want to. I do have one more question for you. It is only for my own curiosity, though." The room's atmosphere became far more relaxed, and Sapphire could feel the tension leave her shoulders.

"Oh, what is it?" Winter asked with mild curiosity.

"You started calling me by my first name. Your demeanor and the fact that you called me Ms. before all this tells me you prefer professionalism. Even with the students. Why are you suddenly using my first name?" Sapphire finally asked the question that was bugging her since last night. Winters's face had a look of shock before she chuckled slightly.

"Because you've already earned my respect as a huntress." Sapphire squinted her eyes, not understanding what Winter meant.

"The fact that you underwent through all that pain, and apparently, are willing to relive it to get to the truth of who did this to you. You're not letting that break you. You are continuing to fight in your own way. There are many hunters I know who would call it quits if they went through the same thing you went through." Winter intertwined her fingers to study Sapphire's expression. Sapphire herself was surprised Winter would see things that way.

"There are many times where I broke down, though. I'm not as brave as you think, Ms. Schnee." Sapphire quickly shook her head, trying to emphasize her point.

"I don't think you missed the scars on my wrists. Those were self-inflicted. Before I could seal up some of my darker memories, I was in a dismal place. I tried to kill myself because I couldn't take it anymore." Sapphire began to subtly massage her wrist with her thumb.

"You shouldn't respect me for any of this. If I didn't have the support of my family, then I would have died that day in the bathroom." Sapphire was starting to fall back into that memory, but Winter snapped her out of her stupor.

"That may be true, but you are still sitting here in front of me, still confronting your demons in your memories." Sapphire looked back up to look at Winter in her eyes.

"Throughout my military career, I've lost a lot of colleagues from self-inflicted wounds. Only they weren't as quiet as a blade to the wrist. They chose to use a gun to either their head or their heart." Winter sighed before looking at a picture on her desk. She then looked back at Sapphire, who was giving her her full attention.

"Not everybody can come back from an attempt. The few that did try the blade were saved in time, but only to go to the gun later. I can count on one hand how many people came back." Winter's voice had a tinge of sadness that Sapphire made sure to take a mental note of.

"I'm glad I can add you to that list. For that matter, when you relive your memories, if you ever want to talk, I will be here. You will not be alone. If you want, I can even get a direct line to your parents if you feel yourself slipping. I can see the strength in your eyes. I know you are a fighter." Winter had a small smile on her face. Sapphire returned with one in kind.

"Thank you, Winter. Ah! I hope that was okay." Sapphire was slightly exasperated at her slip up. Winter only chuckled slightly.

"Hmhm. If we are out of class, then that's fine, but in class, it will be Ms. Schnee." Winter locked her computer and stood up.

"You're one of the teachers as well?" Sapphire asked as Winter began to walk around her desk.

"I only teach two classes, advanced combat/tactics, and advanced dust application. I'm not sure if I'll ever see you in my dust class, but I feel like I might see you in my combat class sooner than I suspect. Assuming you are as skilled as reports say." Winter stopped next to Sapphire.

"Would you mind if I see a live demonstration?" Sapphire smiled lightly.

"Heh, sure. Just let me grab my gear out of my room. Then you can lead me to the training room." Sapphire stood up, and Winter nodded at her.

"Of course. I'll meet you outside your room in a few minutes." Winter went to a nearby file cabinet and began to sift through some paperwork. Sapphire didn't pay any mind to it and went back to her room to grab her guns, holsters, ammo, and magazines.

'There must be some way to use my guns to propel myself without wasting my high impact gravity dust bullets.' Sapphire began to think to herself on her way back to Winter's office.

'I read a science report a while ago about transferring a small piece of your aura into your weapon to use it as a makeshift bullet. I'll have to look up that article again and see if anything came of that research.' Sapphire was pulled out of her thoughts as she saw Winter standing outside of her office.

"Please, follow me." Winter gestured Sapphire to follow, and Sapphire complied. She still hadn't had a chance to look at the school map, so it was still easy to get lost in the similar corridors.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So this is the training room? It's very different from what I'm used to." Sapphire looked around the training room, taking note of how advanced everything looked.

"That is the usual reaction from students who transfer into Atlas." Winter mentioned as she walked to the center of the room.

"I don't doubt it, so do you have a specific target for myself in mind?" Sapphire asked while continuing to inspect the room.

"How about me? I'm curious to see your style first hand." Winter said nonchalantly while observing Sapphire's reaction. Sapphire stopped looking around to turn on face Winter, her face looking like she just got a failing grade.

"I feel like you are going to be disappointed, Winter. It's true that I've beaten a lot of instructors in sparring matches at Oscuro, but I also know that none of them can compare to your level of skill." Sapphire was hoping she could change Witner's mind on this. She glanced around the room one more time before Winter answered her.

"Do you really lack that much confidence?" Winter frowned while asking that question. She began to relax her stance and put her arms behind her back. Sapphire sadly smirked before turning to answer her.

"I consider it to be realistic. Do I have confidence in beating you? No. Do I have confidence in giving you a good fight? Maybe." Sapphire shook her head. She wasn't sure she could put up a good fight against Winter, at least at that the moment.

"You aren't putting on airs because of your previous victories." Winter smirked slightly.

"That's a good trait to have, but I feel like you're humbling yourself too much." Before frowning again.

"I've seen your skill in videos. It's a unique style of close-quarters combat that I've never seen before. You should take pride in that." Winter was trying to psych Sapphire up. Seemingly she was trying to boost Sapphire's confidence.

"Pride doesn't win a fight. It's what loses a fight." Sapphire sighed and shook her head once more. Winter raised her eyebrow at that.

"Interesting outlook. Since you are not that confident in besting me, how about I fight you without my semblance." Winter tried to come up with some sort of compromise to get Sapphire to agree. She started to rub her thumb against her index finger behind her back. Sapphire quickly shook her head.

"No. When I eventually lose this match, I want it to be because you fought at the very least near your best. I do not want some accidental victory based on you holding back such a strength like a semblance." Sapphire had a frown on her face, almost to that of a scowl.

'She knows I hate being pitied; she's doing this on purpose.' Sapphire thought before letting out a breath.

"Fine. Basic practice rules." Sapphire gave in and stated the terms of the match.

"Very well." Winter said with a small smile. With that, they both took their combat stances while giving each other around 30 feet of distance from one another.

Winter had her saber drawn and ready with her other arm still behind her back. Sapphire meanwhile had both her guns drawn. Her right one (Fang) pointed at Winter while her left one (Tarsus) was kept at her side. Winter made a gesture with her hand, then a few beeps sounded through the arena. Sapphire figured it was a countdown on when to start. And when the high pitched beep sounded, none of them moved.

'Rushing in headfirst is the first step to defeat. Winter has seen my style while I know nothing of her's. But the Schnee semblance is famous. Her glyphs are very versatile, while she can also summon Grimm that she has killed. I'll need to be wary of -' Sapphire's thoughts were cut off as Winter dashed towards her with incredible speed.

'FAST!!' Sapphire cocked her head to the right, avoiding the blow. Still, Winter had already drawn back and came with another one, and another, and another.

She was too fast for Sapphire to get any hits in. All Sapphire could do is stiffly dodge each strike, barely avoiding them.

'She's fast, but these thrusts are predictable. I don't have too much of an issue avoiding them. But I'm sure she has more stamina than me. A battle of attrition is not in my favor.' Sapphire was trying to quickly analyze her odds. After 30 seconds, Winter started adding in swipes mixed with her thrusts, causing Sapphire to use her guns to block the blows.

'I'm still too stiff, ugh, this cold is affecting my body. I need to be more limber. I need to use my flexibility and unpredictability to my advantage.' Sapphire was berating herself. But after 20 more dodges and blocks, she was finally starting to feel less rigid.

Sapphire's moves had suddenly changed. She started to move much more gracefully. She was suddenly dancing around Winter's thrusts and strikes and took quick shots at Winter when she had the chance. Winter was always able to dodge or redirect the gun's barrel at the last minute, even though it was at point-blank range.

Sapphire was only shooting with Fang; she has yet to shoot with Tarsus. She had only been using Tarsus to block Winter's blows or take pistol whips at her. After another 10 seconds of their 'dance,' a glyph appeared next to Sapphire, pushing her away from Winter. Sapphire stumbled and went into a quick roll to regain control over her momentum. She exited the roll facing Winter and took two quick shots in Winter's direction.

Each shot missed as Winter began to run to avoid the shots, but one bullet hit where Winter was running to. Upon impact, it created a small sheet of ice. Winter noticed it too late. As she stepped on it, it disrupted her footing long enough to stop her for a brief moment. At this point, Sapphire pointed Tarsus behind her and fired. Sapphire was launched towards Winter with a flying kick.

Although Winter's footing was disrupted, she didn't panic and never took her eyes off Sapphire. She quickly ducked under Sapphire's kick as she arrived and smacked her with the grip of her saber, knocking Sapphire back a few steps. Winter then summoned a Beowulf right by Sapphire and took a swing at her at the same time.

Sapphire was still slightly disoriented after the strike to her face, so she couldn't think of a way to dodge both. She subconsciously blocked Winter's blow, but the Beowulf took a swipe at her abdomen, knocking her back about 20 feet. Sapphire then quickly rolled around and took a shot at the Beowulf's feet, with Fang freezing both feet to the ground. Temporarily stopping the two-pronged assault. What Sapphire didn't realize was that during the combat roll, her aura was cracked and wouldn't last that much longer. Winter saw this, though, and was in front of Sapphire right away.

Sapphire went to raise Fang to fire, but her arm wouldn't move. When she looked, she saw her arm caught by a black glyph, then she felt a strong impact on her sternum. At that point, the glyph disappeared, and Sapphire flew back another 20 feet before she stopped. Sapphire felt her aura break completely, and she heard a buzzer sound. She then collapsed to one knee to catch her breath. The match was over. After a few minutes of trying to assess her injuries, Sapphire stood back up. She looked at the aura board to see the results. Sapphire: 10% Winter: 80%. 

'That 20% was only from her summons. I wasn't able to lay a hand on her.' She sighed internally. She wasn't surprised by the results but was still disappointed that she couldn't do better. Sapphire then holstered her guns before talking to Winter.

"I told you not to overestimate me, or else you will be disappointed." Winter had sheathed her sword and dismissed her summon; a frown was worn on her face.

"I am disappointed, but not in your performance. I'm more disappointed that you didn't fall for any of my tricks and that you lasted as long as you did." Sapphire laughed lightly before stopping because of the pain in her chest.

"I knew they were trying to trick me into attacking blindly before the fight by trying to stroke my ego. My mom is a therapist for hunters, remember? I could probably write a book on those tactics. Still a loss. But I was expecting it." Sapphire was rubbing her sternum slightly. Winter noticed this but decided not to comment on it yet.

"You should still be proud. Only 20% of the juniors and the whole senior class can last longer against me." There was a slight arrogance in Winter's voice, but Sapphire couldn't say it wasn't earned. During the whole fight, Winter had only fought with one hand behind her back.

"Yes, she's right. You should be proud." Sapphire turned and saw a man enter the room. That was when out of her peripheral vision that Winter saluted.

"General Ironwood." He looked and nodded at Winter.

"At ease Winter." Winter relaxed her posture and once again put her arms behind her back.

"Sir." Ironwood put on a small smile as he started some small talk with Winter. Sapphire shifted her body weight, being slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

"By the way, how is your sister? Last I heard, she is still keeping up with her combat tutors. Does she still wish to become a huntress?" Winter had a bright smile on her face as she answered.

"Yes, I'm proud of her decision, but at the same time, I'm worried." Sapphire noticed Winter's smile dim slightly.

"I'm concerned she is only doing this to rebel against father." Ironwood hummed in acknowledgment.

"Hm. I can't say I'm not surprised. Both of you have never gotten along with your father that well." Ironwood then turned to Sapphire. Winter seeing that he was done with that topic, turned to Sapphire as well.

"I watched your fight from the viewing area. Winter is correct. You should be proud of how you stood against her." He put on a smile while Sapphire gave no real reaction.

"You have an excellent chance of winning against our other combat instructors. It's a quality of good hunters and huntresses to learn from their defeats. So tell me, Ms. Zhūwǎng. What did you learn from yours?" Sapphire closed her eyes and went over every detail that happened to find all of her faults. She then came to a quick conclusion.

"A large reason is experience." Sapphire began listing off the reasons for her loss.

"I haven't fought a person as fast as Winter before. Until I started to get used to that speed, I couldn't put up any form of an offense; I was stuck on defense." Ironwood and Winter just started at Sapphire. Observing her as she answered, just like an instructor would.

"I've fought large groups of people before, but they weren't coordinated at all. That is different from Winter and her summons." Sapphire made a small gesture towards Winter.

"They are the embodiment of a coordinated assault. But I feel my biggest reason is my own body's condition. I'm not used to this cold weather, and in the beginning, my body was still really stiff. It took a bit of time for my body to adjust, and I could move the way I wanted to." Sapphire shook her head, and Winter's eyebrows shot up slightly after hearing the explanation.

"So that is why I suddenly had a hard time pinning you down. But why didn't you use your semblance? After the speech you gave me about holding back, I feel like I should give the same speech to you." Sapphire grunted, causing Ironwood to raise his eyebrow.

"I couldn't use it. By the time I was in a good position to use it, it was already too late." Before Winter could voice her confusion Ironwood stepped in first.

"What do you mean?" Ironwood was confused by this. He brought his hand up to his chin in a curious gesture.

"I was already in too much pain." Both Winter and Ironwood blinked, unsure of what to make of it.

"You mean the dust in your body was already acting up?" Winter decided to ask first.

"Winter, I had been healing myself for a few minutes before the fight started." Sapphire smiled wistfully.

"But -" Sapphire interrupted Winter to explain her situation in better detail.

"I told you how activating my aura will activate the dust in my body. Well, the severity depends on how much aura I put out. I had activated a fragile layer to protect myself. During this whole fight, my body was already healing itself while I tried to keep up a small veil of aura. That is a big reason why you overestimate me, Winter." Winter didn't say anything. She just had a distraught look on her face.

"I see. I read Winter's report. And make no mistake Ms. Zhūwǎng. You are a very prominent huntress in training. We will do what we can to try and take out the dust in your system." Ironwood took out a watch to observe the time before putting it back.

"Winter, expect a message from the science and medical team some time this week. You can coordinate with them and Ms. Zhūwǎng on when they can meet for a check-up. It was nice to meet you, Ms. Zhūwǎng. I look forward to seeing you again at the opening ceremony in a couple of months." With that, Ironwood turned on his heels and left the training room. Winter quickly saluted Ironwood as he left before turning back to Sapphire with concern still on her face.

"Are you still in pain?" Sapphire didn't look at Winter and just kept watching Ironwood leave out of the training room door.

"Yes." Sapphire glanced at Winter without moving her head and saw she started to walk towards her.

"I'm sorry-" Sapphire raised her hand to stop Winter before she could continue and turned towards her.

"Stop. We were sparring Winter. It feels like a bruised sternum. At worst, it's fractured." Sapphire started to gently massage the middle of her chest again.

"I've lived through worse pain. I should be back to normal after 12 hours." Sapphire stopped the massage and looked at Winter again. She had a troubled look on her face.

"12 hours just for a bruise? I know you said that the dust will slow down your healing because it will constantly damage you, but I didn't think it would slow you down this much." Sapphire chuckled, causing Winter to stare at her.

"Did you know there is an old saying for this?" Winter slightly squinted her eyes and tilted her head.

"No. What saying is that?" Sapphire just replied bluntly, looking Winter directly in the eyes.

"Life sucks." Sapphire chuckled as she said this, but Winter did not. She looked serious as she started to talk to Sapphire.

"This isn't a joke Sapphire. I underestimated how much damage this does to your body. If I knew this, I wouldn't have suggested a spar. Even if you're healing, this can cause permanent damage to your body." Winter was visibly starting to get upset at Sapphire's attitude towards her own condition. Sapphire could only sigh in response.

"You make it sound like I'm not aware of this Winter. My body already has permanent damage. The scars can sometimes hinder simple movement, it's rare, but it's there. Did you notice my hearing aids?" Sapphire pointed towards one of her ears. Winter looked slightly perplexed.

"Hearing aids?" Sapphire nodded, letting Winter know she heard her correctly.

"Yes, I got them designed so they can purposefully blend in. My ears have permanent damage, but not in the way you think. My hearing is too sensitive." Winter's expression changed from that of shock to inquisitive in nature.

"The aids turn down the volume of my surroundings instead of turning it up. If mine were disabled or damaged, I would probably pass out from hearing a pin drop." Winter's expression didn't change as she was thinking through everything she had learned about Sapphire these past few days.

"That wasn't in your file." Sapphire nodded her head.

"That's correct. My father fought to keep that out of it since it would be too easy for people to sabotage it if they got that information." Winter nodded as that was reasonable for somebody going into a combat profession. Winter's posture suddenly went rigid as she started to talk to Sapphire in a far more professional tone.

"Please wait in your room for now. I will try to contact you later. It might be tonight, but will most likely tomorrow." Without waiting for acknowledgment, Winter walked out of the training room and disappeared.

'Does nobody wait for a goodbye or see ya later?' Sapphire grumbled to herself as she walked to the cafeteria to get a late lunch. After that, she went back to her room to meditate on the sparring session again, going over it in greater detail.

'Another issue is the limitation of having to change the ammo in my guns. I would have fared better if I could swap out my ice bullets with lighting or fire. Hell, even regular bullets would have been better halfway through the match. At some point, I need to talk to the engineers here. Oh, right.' Sapphire pulled out her scroll and started searching for articles related to aura research.

'Here it is, let's see if they made any new progress.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anybody has any constructive criticism then feel free to post it. I know my story is probably incredibly boring to a lot of people but I'd like to improve where I can.


	7. Chapter 7

Sapphire began to search through her scroll for other articles covering Aura and Dust advancements. She eventually found an article covering the latest discoveries.

'All of the hunter academies teach students how to use their aura to strengthen their weapons; otherwise, they would break far quicker than normal. Basically, a fragile veil of aura is applied to the weapon making it stronger as long as that aura is there.' Sapphire read quickly through the shared knowledge at the beginning of the article. Wanting to get swiftly to the new discoveries.

'What if we tried applying that to ammunition? Theoretically, that ammunition could become strong enough to pierce through the bone armor of some of the stronger Grimm that plague our world. Technically this shouldn't be possible to do. Once an object is no longer touching the hunter, it will lose its aura veil and no longer be strengthened.' Sapphire hummed to herself while reading this. She tested doing this herself and had the same results as what the article was saying.

'However, after many tests with hunters who have donated their time, we were able to have a bullet be strengthened by aura for 1.5 seconds after it left contact with their weapon. This proves that it is possible. We theorize that within 10 years, we should be able to form a way to use our aura's to strengthen our ammunition, thus making us able to take out stronger Grimm with less loss of life.' Sapphire sighed and closed her scroll, and began to think about this topic. 

'We can coat our aura over anything we touch. Are we able to push it from our bodies?' Sapphire became lost in thought regarding this research, but her thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing sound.

"Hm?" Sapphire's scroll was vibrating. She picked it up to answer.

"This is Sapphire."

"Hello, Sapphire. I'm coming by your room in a few minutes. Please be ready." Sapphire tensed up lightly after hearing the slightly tense voice over the phone.

"Winter? What is this about?" Winter wasted no time explaining things. Sapphire could hear a slight echo of footsteps. It was clear that Winter was walking to her room at this moment while talking to her.

"I'm taking you to our medical wing. Once I explained your situation, many of our scientists would like to talk to you about the formula you drew out for them. They would also like to see the dust in your body, so they 'coaxed' the medical staff into testing you now. If you are available." The footsteps suddenly stopped. Sapphire smirked slightly at Winter, seemingly getting ahead of herself in this situation.

"Sure, no problem. I was just researching. I'm more than ready." There was a small release of breath over the scroll.

"Excellent. I'll be there in a few minutes." The call ended, and Sapphire stood up to wait. It took less than five minutes for Winter to arrive and escort Sapphire to the medical wing for a series of exams.

The rest of the next 3 hours went by like normal for her checkups. The only difference was that the tests were done on more advanced machines. After the exams finally finished, Sapphire and Winter chatted with each other while waiting for the results. Before they could discuss things further, they were interrupted by a nurse to guide them into the surgeon's office.

Winter and Sapphire sat in silence as the doctor and scientists went over the results with each other. After some quiet debate with each other, they turned to discuss things with Sapphire.

"Ms. Zhūwǎng, I'm Dr. Lanz, and we have some good news and bad news. The good news is that it seems like we should be able to extract the dust from all of your systems. The bad news is we can't get all of it. Some are so deeply embedded and minuscule that it would be too risky to remove them." Winter glanced over at Sapphire, wondering how she would take this news. Sapphire barely blinked at this information, as she was already aware of it from the doctors in Coquina.

"That's what I figured. I never hoped you could get all the dust out of my body." Sapphire said plainly; Dr. Lanz just nodded and continued with his findings.

"There is more good news, however. After the dust is removed, when you use your aura, it won't cause any damage to your systems anymore. The tiny amount of dust that still exists will still activate, but it won't cause you any harm. You might not even feel it, but it will be slight discomfort at most if you do. Theoretically." Sapphire let out a tiny breath that she didn't know she was holding. Winter noticed and smiled slightly.

"I had hopes that this would be the case, and I'm thrilled to have my hopes come to pass for a change." Dr. Lanz smiled slightly before frowning and gesturing for Sapphire to calm down a bit.

"There is something else, though. For each procedure, there is a risk of death; some can be considered rather steep." The tension in the air became dense. Winter glanced at the doctor and Sapphire, her body tensing up with the situation. But Sapphire's smile never wavered.

"Okay, I kind of anticipated that too. What are the odds?" Dr. Lanz, the scientists, and Winter were all taken aback at that response. He blinked a few times before answering.

"Well, for your skeletal system, there is a 0% chance of death. Your muscular and digestive system has a 20% chance of death. Your respiratory only has a 5% chance of death. That system has the fewest dust particles in it. The nervous system has a 45% chance of death. That is because of the dust that is around your brain stem. There is next to none in your brain, but enough around your brain stem to cause problems. Your circulatory system has a 55% chance of death. There is dust in certain parts of your heart. Needless to say, your chances of death are high. I'll let you think about it if you want to go through with this." Dr. Lanz read all the results off of the paperwork that was in front of him. The only sound aside from him was the sound of the pages being turned on his clipboard. When he was done, he looked back at Sapphire and saw her still smiling.

"There is no need to think about it. I'll do it." Dr. Lanz didn't say anything yet; he just glanced at Winter. Winter had a look of shock on her face at the fast answer Sapphire had given.

"Sapphire, shouldn't you consult your parents on this matter?" Sapphire nodded her head a little before turning to face her.

"I should, but I won't." Winter wanted to rebuke Sapphire's decision, but Sapphire kept speaking and not letting her get a word in.

"They know how much I've been trying to find a way to get this out of my system. I told them even if there is a risk of me dying that I'll take the risk. I've already got them to agree with me." Winter looked pensive but just nodded her head. Sapphire then turned back towards Dr. Lanz.

"I would like to schedule the circulatory one as soon as possible." He blinked in surprise.

"That is no problem, but why that one first?" Sapphire seemed eerily calm as she explained herself.

"Because it has the highest chance of death, and if I die on the table with this surgery, then the others would be pointless." It was a very morbid outlook, but nobody could fault the logic on it.

"I can schedule it for 2 days from now. Just don't do any sparring or training. Keep your body relaxed. That should slightly increase your chances." Sapphire nodded her head in response. Winter still looked uncomfortable about this but held her tongue.

"Thank you, doctor." As Dr. Lanz was about to respond, one of the scientists in the room quickly interrupted. He had practically jumped out of his chair.

"Right, now that that is out of the way. Where did you find this formula?" Dr. Lanz rolled his eyes as he left the room to talk to his surgical team. Sapphire smirked at the scientist.

"I'll tell you as long as you tell me what it is." The scientist had no hesitation and began to ramble about his findings.

"I don't know what the purpose is. But it's a combination of different types of dust, and some kind of chemical is being used to have them safely mixed together." He began to pace the room while talking. Sapphire kept following him with her eyes while Winter just sighed as she started to rub her temple.

"This isn't just two types of dust. There are 4 according to this formula. Lightning appears to be in the largest quantity, then there is fire, ice, and a minimal amount of rock." He stopped to look at Sapphire directly and gestured with his hands.

"There is enough difficulty getting just two different types of dust to combine. But, this formula proves that it's possible to combine 4 types of dust in a stable condition." Once he stopped to catch his breath, Sapphire took this moment to entice him.

"Would you like to study the actual concoction?" His eyes widened in shock, and he practically jumped on Sapphire before she stuck out her arm to stop him.

"You have some?!!" Sapphire grumbled before answering.

"In a manner of speaking. If my surgeries are successful, you can analyze the dust yourself to see." He calmed down and backed off, bringing his hand to his chin to think.

"It was injected into you? Hmm. I can't see any practicality behind this. With the amount of dust, it would cause a tremendous amount of pain that the person's mind would shut down." He began to think out loud, and Sapphire answered him even though he wasn't really asking.

"I wish that would have happened, but the lighting dust kept me conscious during the whole thing." Sapphire started to grip her chair's armrest, and her foot began to lightly bounce on the floor. Winter saw this and put her hand on Sapphire's shoulder. Sapphire stopped shaking her foot and looked at Winter. She then nodded at her, telling Winter that she is okay.

"Anyway, when the reaction subsided, I did pass out from the pain. So far, I can only get that formula. I was injected with other ones where the base was different. This one is lightning." Sapphire gestured toward the paper that he was holding.

"There was one for fire and one for ice. I was never given one with stone as the main component. At least that I recall. After the first surgery, you can have the dust the surgeon's extract from me to study it. I hope you can find a way to remove the rest of the dust safely for future surgeries." His eyes seemed to light up in excitement as he looked at Sapphire again.

"Oh, don't worry, this could be a breakthrough in dust technology if we can find what this binding chemical is. I'll get my team ready in time for your surgery." The scientist left the room with a big grin on his face. This caused Sapphire to chuckle lightly.

"He is a man who certainly loves his job." Winter just grunted in response.

"That was Dr. Molek. I've always found him rude when it comes to a topic that doesn't interest him. Are you sure about this Sapphire?" Winter's tone lightened up as she questioned Sapphire again. Sapphire just looked at Winter with a somewhat confused look on her face.

"You know, I'm amazed by you, Winter." Winter wore a face of confusion as well.

"What do you mean?" Sapphire stood up to stretch as she started talking.

"The way you hold yourself, your demeanor, how other people talk to you and you to them. The way you talk to me is very different in contrast." She stopped stretching to turn and face Winter directly.

"I refuse to believe that it's because of the respect you have for me. So what is it?" Winter sighed heavily before answering.

"Your stubbornness reminds me of myself and of Weiss." Sapphire blinked in surprise.

"Your sister?" Winter raised her eyebrow as she too stood up from her chair.

"You know her?" Sapphire just shook her head.

"I know of her. Very few don't. The heiress to the SDC. She's a great singer. I listen to a few of her songs from time to time to help me relax." Winter smiled slightly from hearing that, before that smile turned sad.

"If only she was allowed to enjoy herself when she sings. Some days I wish I could just sit down and talk to her. But we are both just too busy." Sapphire squinted her eyes a bit at Winter before her tone became a bit sharper.

"Can I be blunt, Winter?" Winter looked at Sapphire, eyebrow raised again.

"Yes?" Sapphire's friendly tone was now gone as she began to poke at what she saw as Winter's flaws.

"That's bullshit. I doubt your sister doesn't have her own personal scroll. Nothing is stopping you from calling her right now if you really wanted to. That way, you could actually talk to her instead of projecting her onto me and pretend you are taking care of her." Winter narrowed her eyes and glared hard at Sapphire. It was a warning. Sapphire just raised her hands in defeat and apologized right away.

"Sorry, it's a bit of a habit I picked up from my mother. I sometimes start to psychoanalyze people. Sorry if I crossed a line." Winter's look returned to normal. She then looked down and relaxed her shoulders, which she instinctively tensed up before.

"No, no, you're right. I'm scared to talk to her at the moment. Not because I'm scared of her reaction, but more of what my father will do to her if he were to find out that we talked. This has to be handled delicately. But I appreciate your bluntness. I guess I was projecting Weiss onto you." Sapphire wanted to comment on what Winter just said but decided that now was not the time to ask her about this. So she chose to go with a more neutral question.

"Are we really that similar?" Winter smirked as she began to answer.

"In your stubbornness, yes. In everything else, no." Sapphire hummed at that.

Sapphire and Winter both walked out of the office and stopped by the cafeteria for some lunch. Winter never brought Weiss back up in conversation, and Sapphire never pressed her to. Instead, they just talked about their training regimen. Sapphire was surprised by how much Winter still put into her training, considering how busy she appeared. Winter was also equally surprised by how much Sapphire can push herself.

After they were done eating, Sapphire went back to her room to meditate for the rest of the day, and Winter returned to her office to catch up on some paperwork.

Sapphire followed the doctor's orders, keeping herself relaxed until the day of her surgery. She didn't bother trying to seal up any memories either, knowing that can stress out her mind and possibly damage her body. The most she did was look up more research articles on new dust and aura applications.

On the day of the surgery, Sapphire went directly to the doctor's office. Dr. Lanz wasted no time getting her prepped and on the table. Once she was ready, he put on an anesthesia mask and told her to count backward from 100. She was out before she hit 90.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

She dreamed. It was actually a pleasant dream compared to the dreams she would usually have. Sapphire was home with her family. She had no scars, she had friends, there was no bullying. She was happy.

Sapphire was having dinner with her family. She helped her mother with the dishes; then she saw out of the corner of her eye Li tripping over a rug. A steak knife flew off of the plate Li was holding and sliced across Sapphire's wrist. She quickly dropped her dishes, shattering them, to hold onto her wrist.

Sapphire let go of her wrist to look at the wound; she saw that her blood wasn't normal. It was a mix of colors, a bright flickering yellow, a cold blue, an oak brown, and a deep sparkling red. It was strangely hypnotic to her. She looked up and saw her family was gone, and she was surrounded by darkness.

When she looked down, she saw the knife was suddenly in her hand. She moved and made another cut on her wrist, hypnotized by the act. She did another and another. Then Sapphire switched hands and started to cut deeper. Her mind was telling her to stop, her hands were shaky from the cuts and sudden loss of blood, but her body wouldn't listen. When her wrists had no more room for cuts, she lifted the knife above her heart and brought it down.

Sapphire woke up with a gasp of breath and looked around frantically until realizing that she was on a hospital bed. She subconsciously started to trace her old wrist wounds and felt relief that she didn't feel any new cuts. She then took a few deep breaths to calm down and try and take stock of her condition.

'I'm not dead. I wonder if there were any complications.' Sapphire felt incredibly numb as she tried to move her body around.

She was still sedated, so Sapphire decided to relax and wait for somebody to enter her room. Thankfully it didn't take long for a nurse to walk in. Sapphire turned her head to look at him, which got his attention.

"Oh, you're awake. Let me get the doctor." The nurse replied simply with a smile and stepped back out of the room. Within two minutes, he returned with the doctor.

"Good evening Ms. Zhūwǎng. How are you feeling?" Sapphire laid her head back down and closed her eyes.

"Weak." Dr. Lanz smiled, though Sapphire didn't see it.

"Well, that's to be expected after any major surgery like this. You'll be happy to know that the procedure was a complete success." Sapphire opened her eyes and looked back at him.

"There were no complications, but it did take us longer than we anticipated to finish. We were able to get 90% of the dust removed from your circulatory system. As a result, your heart is no longer at risk from your aura now." Sapphire just smirked before grimacing slightly from the aches she felt.

"That's good news, doc. Tell me, how soon until I can do the surgery for my nervous system?" Dr. Lanz was taken aback by the question. He looked down at Sapphire's medical chart before looking back up to answer her.

"Since there were no complications and you are in excellent health, relatively speaking, we can do it in 4 days. You should fully recover by then. Why are you rushing into this?" Sapphire's smirk vanished as she dawned a severe expression, starring the doctor in the eyes.

"I've lived with this dust in my body since I was 4 years old, I think." Sapphire looked down, momentarily lost in thought before refocusing on him.

"I'm turning 18 this year and am about to enter Atlas as an official student. I'm tired of fighting this pain. I want it to end." Dr. Lanz stared for a good minute before nodding his head.

"Alright. I'll inform Winter and Dr. Molek, that fruit cake, that you're awake." He grumbled at the mention of the scientist. Sapphire could only slightly cock her head and wonder what the deal was between these two.

"They both wanted to be notified when you woke up. Please excuse me." Dr. Lanz left, and Sapphire was left to her own thoughts or lack thereof in this case. She didn't want to think of anything. She tried to empty her mind so she wouldn't go back to that dream. Sapphire weakly lifted her arms again and began to rub on her wrists.

Dr. Molek showed up first, telling her that his team has already started to go through the dust and breakdown everything. Then Winter showed up and started admonishing her into wanting to go back into surgery so soon. Sapphire stood firm, though, stating exactly what she told the doctor. Winter just sighed, citing again about her stubbornness. Then she left to make a report to Ironwood.

It was the day before her next surgery when Sapphire had an unexpected visitor accompanying Winter.

"General Ironwood?" Sapphire was shocked. She only met the Ironwood once and would never think that he would bother to visit somebody who isn't even a student yet.

"I came to discuss something with you." Ironwood's tone was firm as he locked eyes with Sapphire. Sapphire glanced at Winter and noticed an equally frosty expression on her face.

"We indeed gave you a full scholarship for allowing us to study your perfect recall memory, but this falls out of what your scholarship covers. So how are you going to pay for these medical bills?" Ironwood kept his face emotionless, not showing happiness or disappointment. Sapphire relaxed and chuckled under her breath.

"There it is. I expected this question to come up before my first surgery. You were later than I expected." Ironwood just raised his eyebrow, his face asking for a straight answer.

"It's a fair trade. The dust that is extracted from my body is technically mine, as well as the formulas that I know. The formulas, if I can recall more of them, will belong to you. The dust that can be extracted from my body will also be yours to study as you see fit. That is my payment for these surgeries." Sapphire said everything so matter-of-factly. Winter blinked at the response while Ironwood just sighed.

"You know I wasn't exactly serious when I said that, right?" Sapphire's face didn't change, but her tone became a bit colder.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to lie to me, general. If you've read my profile, then you know I'm an expert at reading people, even more than my mother is." Ironwood was just silent with a soft expression on his face. Sapphire still couldn't get a good read off of him.

"But I get it. Until I told you about this trade, these surgeries were a waste of manpower and resources with no investment." Ironwood frowned and slightly shook her head, surprising Sapphire.

"With your skills in hand to hand combat and the knowledge of perfect recall that you will bring makes you an investment. I'm willing to spend a little more manpower to make sure you are at your absolute best." Sapphire squinted her eyes slightly as she thought about how to word what she wanted to say next.

"Let me be clear about something though general. If we were to ever go to war, I would side with Vacuo over Atlas." Both Winter's and Ironwood's expression hardened after hearing that.

"That is where my family is. I will not allow anything to happen to them if I can help it. I will gladly fight under the Atlas banner against Mistral or Vale, but not Vacuo." After Sapphire said that, she started to hold her head with a slight grimace.

'I'm getting worked up over this.' Then Sapphire noticed the look the general was giving her. It was almost as if he was silently threatening her. She glanced at Winter, who had a deadpan appearance. Sapphire looked back at the general with her own hardened look.

"General, I'm sure that look will make most students terrified of some kind of repercussion, or even physical harm given your demeanor." Sapphire gestured to Ironwood's body posture.

"But it's not scary to me. My mom's glare is scary. And I've been through worse looks throughout my life." Sapphire's eyes began to cloud slightly. She then raised her hand and began to count with her fingers.

"The man who did this to me looked at me like I was a toy or lab rat. The constant looks of pity and disgust from others I was hoping to be friends with. Worst of all, looks of fear from my own family." Sapphire then lowered her hand and pointed at Ironwood.

"So your 'scary face' doesn't faze me general." Ironwood was taken aback and not ready for that kind of response. Winter equally so, she kept glancing between Sapphire and Ironwood. She was unsure if she should step in. She stopped when she heard Ironwood start to chuckle.

"You are the only one aside from Winter who has talked back to me like that." Sapphire glanced at Winter. She looked annoyed and had a slight blush on her face. Probably remembering the incident.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at you. I'm just constantly surprised by your mental fortitude. I think you are more strong-willed than most of our soldiers. And they saw live combat. I'm glad we had this talk, though. I look forward to hearing you finally get better after your surgeries." Ironwood quickly glanced at the clock.

"Hopefully, in time for your first class." Ironwood nodded his head and walked out with Winter on his heels. Sapphire just relaxed the rest of the day. Then it was time for the surgery. 

Sapphire vaguely remembers regaining consciousness with her entire body feeling like it's on fire. She also smelt that something was burning, but her mind was so groggy that she couldn't place the smell. 

Sapphire was fighting to stay conscious of trying and figuring out what happened, but she was still incredibly groggy. The doctors were still working on her as she could hear them talking to each other in panicked voices. Once they saw that Sapphire woke up, they increased the anesthesia pushing her back into unconsciousness.

Sapphire didn't dream this time, or at least not what she would call a dream. She was just vaguely cognizant of her own existence. Sapphire had no form, only her own thoughts. She had no concept of time, and her thoughts flew in different directions. It was incredibly disorienting.

Sapphire would wonder if she was dead as her thoughts would drift. Then she would think of what her family was doing. After that, Sapphire thought of a new training regime after all her surgeries got done. Her thoughts kept bouncing around, and she couldn't focus on one single idea.

Eventually, Sapphire woke up. She noticed a few things right away. The first is that she couldn't see out of her left eye. The second is that her arms, shoulder blades, and left side of her face felt like it was continually being pricked by thousands of needles. She could barely lift her arms, but she saw they were bandaged from the wrist up to her shoulders when she had enough strength to actually turn her head.

Sapphire could feel more bandages on her back but couldn't see or feel how far they went. She reached with her left hand, which was incredibly weak, and took a ton of effort to discern the bandage on the left side of her face. Sapphire was lucky that all hospital rooms have the same basic layout. She instinctively reached up and pushed the call nurse button. 

No nurse ever came as it was her doctor that arrived right away. He looked relieved to see her awake. Before he could say anything, Sapphire spoke up first, albeit very weakly.

"If you ask, 'How are you feeling?' I'm going to punch you in the face the next chance I get." Dr. Lanz froze for a moment before chuckling.

"Haha, sorry. Even if it's obvious, it's something they drill into you in medical school." Sapphire tried to shift her body to a better position, but she couldn't put enough strength into her limbs.

"No offense, but since I can tell that something happened, can you just give me the details, starting with how long I've been out?" His face became stern as he walked up beside her to check on her IV bag.

"Of course. You've been asleep for 5 days since we finished bandaging you up. We had a scare when you woke up after the initial surgery was done, so we had to put you out again before we had to do some other procedures to heal you." If Sapphire had the strength, she would have looked shocked.

"What happened?" Dr. Lanz looked at her and took a deep breath after collecting his thoughts.

"Things were going really well at first. We started from your legs moving up your body. Your midsection also was done with no issues. We additionally got through 90 percent of your spinal cord. We didn't at that time hit the top part, the brain stem, because there was more dust there than we were comfortable with, so we were going to hit it last." Sapphire hummed in understanding while he continued.

"We then decided to work on your arms. Because of how well things were going, we decided to speed up the process to push the dust into a single section and clean it up. This would be better for the patient since their surgery time would be shortened, making a quicker recovery. That was a mistake, though. We were informed too late." Dr. Lanz looked down as Sapphire weakly turned her head to look at him.

"Who tried to inform you?" He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked back at Sapphire.

"It was the science team. They started explaining that if too much of this concoction is gathered in one spot and then steeped in blood. Then it will activate the base of that substance. In this case, the lighting dust activated as if it was charged by aura. We had to quickly remove our instruments before they shorted out." Sapphire had to take a minute to process this. She tried to lift her arms again and managed to get them a couple inches off the bed before they fell back down.

"That explains why I smelled burnt flesh then." Dr. Lanz sadly nodded his head.

"We weren't expecting that. Your arms should heal from what we can tell, but those Lichtenberg scars are deeper; we had to cut some of your skin out from those areas because it killed some of it and became necrotic. It also reached up to the left side of your face." He touched the left side of his face, trying to show Sapphire where it was.

"I'm not sure you will see out of that eye, but we can only know when we take the bandage off. One of our attendants had enough sense over this situation to spread as much dust from your brainstem as possible. If the reaction had hit it before she did that, you probably would have died, or at the very least become paralyzed from the neck down." Dr. Lanz lowered his hand as Sapphire was finally able to her left hand up again to feel the side of her face over.

"I would like to thank her if possible. The fact that she thought to do that in that situation shows that she is very good at this job." Dr. Lanz put on a friendly smile, happy that Sapphire wasn't blaming him or his team for this situation.

"My whole team is resting right now. This took a lot out of them. But when she wakes up, I'll let her know." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Well, that is basically it. Before you ask when you can order the next surgery, I'm going to put my foot down and tell you to wait. We need to see how your arms and eye act. Only then will I entertain the idea on when the next surgery takes place." Sapphire weakly nodded her head as she slowly lowered her arm back down.

"Alright, I'll agree to it. I only have one question." Dr. Lanz nodded his head in confirmation.

"What's that?" Sapphire let out a large before grumbling out.

"Can I get something to eat?" He chuckled loudly at that.

"Haha, wait a little bit for the anesthesia to get completely out of your system. That is why you are still weak right now. We wouldn't want it to make you sick. It should be filtered out in the next hour or so. Are you up for visitors?" Sapphire sighed and shook her head to the best of her ability.

"There is only one person in Atlas who would visit me. I don't want to see Winter right now. At least not until I eat. I don't have the energy to combat her right now." Dr. Lanz wore a smirk at that statement before slowly walking back towards the door.

"Heh, I'll try to deter her. But she could always order me to step aside. I may be a doctor, but I'm a military doctor, and she is my superior. So you have my apologies if I can't stop her." After that, the doctor left. Sapphire just wanted food, but that would have to wait. For now, she just closed her eye and drifted back to sleep.

When Sapphire woke up again, she glanced at the clock and noticed it was 8PM. She subtly tried moving her arms, legs, fingers, and toes and saw it was a lot easier to move them. So Sapphire started to stretch and pop her joints to get the blood flowing going again. This helped to relieve some of the tension in her body. After feeling some relief, she hit the call nurse button and asked the nurse who came in for some food. The nurse nodded and returned reasonably quickly with a tray of food. Sapphire saw that Winter was right on the nurse's heels as he returned to the room. Sapphire silently sighed to herself.

"Winter, can your admonishment of my decision wait until after I finish my food?" Sapphire asked rhetorically as she already knew the answer. Winter had a look of annoyance on her face as she pulled a chair up and sat next to Sapphire as the food was served.

"No, you can eat and listen to my admonishment. You know this wouldn't have happened if you had waited long enough for the science team to look into the dust they extracted from your body. This whole thing could have been avoided if you weren't so impatient about this." Sapphire didn't respond to the rant. She just continued eating the hospital food, but she would glance at Winter every few minutes to let her know that she was still listening to her.

"I can understand how much pain this could put you in, but your lack of patience concerns me." Sapphire's right eye twitched at this but still continued to eat.

"You've made solid and rational decisions in everything we've discussed before. But when it comes to this, you seem to be so impulsive." Winter quickly gestured towards Sapphire.

"This could cause you permanent damage. You're lucky that you didn't die!" With that, Sapphire finished her meal, feeling better now that she had food in her stomach. She pushed her food tray away from the bed. Sapphire then intertwined her fingers together with her hands resting on her lap. She looked over at Winter.

"Are you done?" Sapphire stared at Winter, waiting for an answer.

"For now." Winter crossed her arms, waiting to see what kind of rebuttal Sapphire could come up with.

"Good, now it's my turn." Sapphire glared hard at Winter. Winter doesn't remember seeing Sapphire ever this angry before.

"You have no fucking idea about the pain I have. Nobody does because only I had this shit injected in me." Sapphire wasn't really yelling, but to Winter, it felt like she was screaming at her.

"You can pretend to know, but that doesn't mean shit, Winter. Have you ever had your lungs ignite from the inside out? Have electricity flow through your nerves in the middle of the night. Feel one of your legs slowly get colder and colder, watching it turn colors from blue to black? Smell the dead skin from cold burns, 3rd-degree burns? Or live with that smell for months?" Sapphire rattled off her question's to Winter but didn't give her the chance to answer since she already knew the answer.

"So yes, Winter, I got impatient wanting this shit out of my god's damn body. Until it's out, I consider myself crippled because of it." Winter tried to speak up hear, but Sapphire stopped her by raising her hand.

"There is a risk of permanent damage from removing it, but the risk is just as high if I leave it there. It will only take one memory recall that could make my aura go full charge and activate all the dust in my body." After yelling at Winter, Sapphire stopped and began to catch her breath. Winter was trying to process the information. She looked down in disappointment before returning eye contact with her.

"You're right, Sapphire. I don't really know what kind of pain you go through. Pretending to know was cruel towards your feelings. I apologize for it." Sapphire just sighed, neither saying she accepted or rejected the apology. At this point, Dr. Lanz walked into the room. He froze as he could feel the tension.

"Oh. Hello Ms. Schnee. Do I need to come back later? I was hoping I could remove the bandages on her arms and see how they are." He looked pensive when he asked. But Winter just stood up and moved the chair back to where it was initially.

"No, you are fine, doctor. I have paperwork to do. Sapphire, I'll check in with you later, okay?" Sapphire nodded her head.

"That's fine, Winter. If you haven't called Weiss yet, then this is a reminder. You need to let you know you still care about her." Winter didn't respond. She just looked down as she left the room.

"Ms. Schnee is oddly close to you." The off-handed comment from the doctor had Sapphire hum in response.

"In her own words, it's because I've earned her respect, and my stubbornness reminds her of herself and her sister. She might see me as something similar." Dr. Lanz just murmured in understanding as he started unwrapping the bandages. The scars were angrier, deeper. They were now a dark red and a deeper black in color. He noticed that Sapphire didn't really have a reaction. She saw his look and answered him before he could ask the question.

"Doc, you've seen my body. You think having some bad scars is going to concern me? As long as it doesn't horribly immobilize me, I'm not concerned about looks." Dr. Lanz just nodded his head as she had a point.

"Grip your hands. Any pain?" Sapphire had a small grimace, but it was nothing overt.

"Aside from the dull ache that I've had since I woke up, no." He nodded and had her go through some more movements. Lifting her arms above her head, keeping her arms out in front of her, holding them to her side. Aside from a complaint of just general weakness, nothing seemed to be wrong.

"I'm going to rebandage your arms for the time being until your aura can heal the wounds a bit more." Sapphire nodded realized that she still had her aura; it wasn't being drained.

"Why aren't I on aura dampeners? Aren't you afraid my aura will activate the rest of the dust in my body?" Dr. Lanz shook his head while giving Sapphire a more detailed answer.

"The only dust left in your arms are on your muscles, and that is a minimal amount compared to what was in your nerves and veins. As long as you keep your aura at a small level, you will be fine. As for why I'm not putting you on dampeners; According to Winter, you have excellent aura control and are constantly trying to improve it. Here is your chance to train it more." She just smirked.

'I'll have to thank her for getting the doctor to agree to this.' Dr. Lanz grabbed her attention as he moved to the left side of her bed.

"I'm going to remove the bandage from your eye now. Before I do, can you feel anything? Like your eyelid? Can you feel yourself blink?" Sapphire looked straight ahead as she tried to blink under the bandage.

"I think so? It's incredibly numb, so I can't tell if it's moving or not. The dull ache here is far worse than my arms." He got up and dimmed the lights. Sapphire was confused at first before he answered her look.

"This is in case you can see, and your eye has become hypersensitive. It's also in case your eyelid no longer works." She nodded in understanding. She closed both eyes (hopefully) as the bandage was slowly removed.

"Looks like your eyelid works. Please slowly open your eyes now." She started to slowly open her eyes. Her right eye had no issues, but her left was nothing but darkness.

"Is my left eye open?" Dr. Lanz was in Sapphire's new blind stop, so she couldn't see him frown.

"Yes, can you see anything?" He sounded pensive, but he already knew the answer to his question from a quick observation.

"No, just blackness. There is no hint of light." Dr. Lanz took a closer look examining the eye with some tools.

"We'll need to run a few in-depth tests, but it looks like the nerves in your eye are dead. How far back is hard to say, but the tests should tell us. I'll get a nurse to rebandage you and get you scheduled later today." Sapphire just nodded as the doctor left the room. She was a little disheartened, but she was still adamant in her decision.

'Losing an eye is a small price to pay for getting this shit out of my system.' Sapphire laid back down and waited for the nurse to rebandage her eye.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

A few days have passed since then, and she was told the result of the tests. The nerves inside the eye and a few around the eye are entirely dead. Dr. Lanz's explanation wasn't a surprise to Sapphire as she already expected this.

"Because of this, we don't know if a prosthetic eye will work for you. The parts of the nerve that aren't dead are still severely damaged. Our technology just isn't enough to give you back your sight in this case, but we are always working on new technologies. I'm sure in the future you could get both your eyes back. But right now is an impossibility. I'm sorry." Dr. Lanz was genuinely sorry that he couldn't do more for his patient. Sapphire just waved her hand at him. Basically trying to dismiss his apology.

"You have nothing to apologize for." He put on a stern look as he looked back at Sapphire.

"Yes, I do. It was my call to take a shortcut on a very new procedure." It was Sapphire's turn to shake her head.

"No. You were thinking of my well being by trying to reduce the time I was under the knife. It was my fault because I was pushy in wanting the surgery quicker. Otherwise, we would have gotten the information from the science team on what not to do." He looked down momentarily.

"So don't apologize. Mistakes happened. I don't blame you for it." Dr. Lanz just sighed. His mood seemed heavy.

'It seems like his pride is more hurt than anything. I can't really fix that.' Sapphire sighed internally as she was trying to act like a therapist again.

"So what is next, doctor? Since I'm probably a couple weeks away from getting the next surgery done, can I at least walk and stretch my legs? I'm starting to go a little stir crazy." He grunted at the mention of the future surgeries but still agreed to her request.

"Alright, but no intense training. The most I'll allow is a jog in our PT gym. Don't do anything with your arms until I give you the clear. You don't need the IV anymore, so I'll have a nurse remove that." He glanced at his watch before starting to turn and walk toward the door.

"Well, I'll see you in a few days for another check-in to see how things are." Sapphire nodded with a small smile on her face.

"Thanks. See ya around, doc." Dr. Lanz waves on his way out. After that, a nurse came in only for a minute to take out the IV. Sapphire immediately got up and went to the gym to exercise. Her legs were beyond sore from lying down for days on end.

After that, for the next 2 weeks, Sapphire fell into a routine. Wake up, eat, meditate, jog, eat, meditate, jog, eat, meditate, sleep. The only break in the pattern was when Dr. Lanz would check on her. Some other, rarer times, Winter would check up on her. She was much more professional during these times, acting less like an overbearing sister and more like a superior or professor. After 2 weeks, Dr. Lanz began to talk about the next surgeries.

"You bandages have been off for a while now, and things look like they are healed, and you don't feel any lingering pain. Right?" He looked at her accusingly. Sapphire, in response, raised her hands defensively.

"If you think I'm lying to you so we can do the surgery, then you're wrong. There really is no pain." He stared at her while she waved her arms, trying to see any indication of pain. He didn't see any that was apparent.

"Alright then. The science team heading the research on this unique dust in your body has been talking with me these past few days. I have good news." Sapphire perked up at that since good news was in short supply with her.

"They've found a way to extract the dust from your body far quicker with some new instruments they created. So my team has formulated a plan on how to extract the dust using them." Sapphire blinked in surprise. She honestly didn't think the science team would work on something like that.

"Even though I say it will be quicker, we will still be working on your muscular, respiratory, and skeletal systems. You will probably be on the table for around 10 hours. But because of their analysis, there should be no more mistakes." Sapphire keyed in on the word 'should,' but she knew there was no such thing as 100%.

"I've always been for this doc. I just need to know when." He nodded his head while he pulled out his scroll to look at the times he could schedule her.

"Tomorrow morning. This is why you will spend the rest of the time back in bed to rest your body." Sapphire agreed without a fight.

"I'm more than fine with that. Thank you, doctor." Dr. Lanz just nodded and left to tell his team to prepare for tomorrow. Sapphire spent the rest of the day meditating. Since she didn't jog today, she didn't eat lunch and only ate a light dinner and then went straight to bed. True to his word, the rest of the surgeries went off without any issue. When Sapphire woke up, she was in extreme pain, and she knew why.

'This is very similar to when they took bone marrow samples. Only now, it's almost my entire skeleton.' She was in a lot of pain. Her arms were shaking. She struggled to hit the nurse call button. Once the nurse saw the pain on Sapphire's face, she paged Dr. Lanz immediately. Within minutes he showed up and saw Sapphire's state he administered a specific dosage of painkillers. It kicked in a few minutes later, and Sapphire began to calm down.

"Better." She just nodded her head as there was still a dull ache, but she was still trying to get her wits about her.

"Okay, well, you are officially done after we check on your healing for these next few days. If everything goes fine, you can go back to your training. I would still suggest starting slowly. You have a little over a month before the new school year starts." He reminded her not to overexert herself.

"I know, I'll probably be seeing the psych department a lot, so I'll probably see you around." Dr. Lanz stopped checking her vitals for a moment while processing what she said.

"Psychologists? Why?" He had concern on his face. Sapphire just waved it off.

"It's nothing like that. I have a perfect recall memory. I agreed to let the academy study it. Hopefully, I can find a way to seal away certain memories better." His eyebrows shot up for a moment before he went back to check her vitals.

"Ah. I'm just glad it's nothing serious. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning to check on you." After marking down the results, he got up and began to walk out of the room before Sapphire called out to him.

"Oh, could you please tell Winter I would like to see her. I need her help setting up a meeting with my family, so I can explain this." She pointed at her eye.

"Of course." Dr. Lanz agreed as he left the room. Sapphire sighed before slowly putting more strength into her aura to see if it would damage her anymore before she stopped.

'I'm still on painkillers. If I get hurt, I won't know how bad because the pain will be blunted. I'll have to wait, I guess.' She brought her aura back down again. After an hour of meditation, Winter walked into the room.

"Good afternoon Sapphire." Winter had her regular deadpan expression on today.

"Good afternoon Winter. How has your day been?" Sapphire started off friendly, hoping to put Winter in the same mindset.

"I've had to deal with far more paperwork than normal. As a result, I haven't been able to train as much as I usually do." Sapphire smiled slightly.

"Try having multiple operations that will force you to almost constant bed rest." This 'one-upping' caused Winter to smile back.

"True, but that was by choice." Winter replied with a small smirk.

"Touche." Sapphire smirked back. Winter then decided to take a seat next to Sapphire.

"I understand you want to contact your family." Sapphire's smirk vanished as she answered.

"Yes, I could just use my own scroll, but I would prefer a bigger screen where I can hide part of my face so I can ease them into this." Sapphire pointed to her eye bandage, and Winter nodded in understanding.

"I thought you said they won't care since you always wanted this?" Winter was a bit confused on this. Sapphire said before that her family wouldn't care, but now she's saying they would.

"In the long run, they won't, but in the short term, they will still act a bit overprotective. I can't rip the bandaid off with my family. I've tried that before with awful results." Sapphire groaned as 

"I know your parents aren't abusive, so what could have been so bad." Winter still wasn't seeing what the issue was.

"Well, for about 2 weeks, my father would force my brother to accompany me everywhere when I wasn't at school. And my mom would analyze every word out of my mouth to find some kind of double meaning. That alone went on for a month." Sapphire began to rub her temple as she started to recall that month.

"I can see your point. That can be...stifling." Winter scrunched up her face and understood Sapphire's point now.

"I would go more for suffocating, but yes. It was stifling. But I knew it was because they cared." Sapphire just smiled, but only momentarily.

"Sorry." Winter dawned a look of confusion again.

"Hm? Why are you apologizing?" Sapphire looked down a bit before shifting in her bed and looking at Winter again.

"Because I know your family situation is less than ideal." Winter deadpanned after Sapphire said that.

"What do you know about my family situation?" Sapphire recoiled slightly at the look Winter was giving her.

"Just basic rumors on what your father is really like and how your mother makes next to no public appearances. There is also how you talked about your sister when I first met Ironwood in the training room." Winter began to lessen her glare as Sapphire continued.

"You said you were worried about her wanting to be a huntress could just be her rebelling against your father. If you said you weren't worried, then I wouldn't have put any stock into it. But because you worry, it makes me think something different." Winter's glare completely vanished as she was now curious about what Sapphire could infer from this.

"It's also because of what you said in this room a week ago. You were scared that your father would find out that Weiss was talking to you." Sapphire saw that Winter was no longer glaring, but that made her hard to read.

"And what are you thinking?" Winter asked with curiosity in her voice.

"Well, Weiss is always hailed as the heiress to the SDC; she wouldn't need to do anything but work at the SDC and be set for life. But she wants to do something that would get her away from that." Winter subtly nodded as Sapphire continued with her explanation.

"That leaves some theories on my part. Either Weiss wants to be a huntress because it will add more value to her name. Or, more likely, she wants to get away from her father and wants nothing to do with the SDC." Winter was impressed with what Sapphire could deduce, and it started to show on her face.

"With your worry, the latter sounds correct, and with the rumors about Jaques, he is probably over-controlling Weiss. Am I close?" Winter's expression became a bit downtrodden.

"You are close. Weiss has told me that I am the only one she can confide in, but she never confirmed your theory, but I agree with it. However, you're wrong on the SDC. My sister has expressed wanting to control it and fix the questionable policies that our father has brought upon us. She wants to restore its reputation to the height our grandfather made for it." Sapphire just nodded her head.

"There is only so much I can get without meeting the person." Winter just gestured toward Sapphire while trying to praise her.

"That is still really impressive. I don't know if this is the right time to ask this, but with your skills, especially against human opponents, I've been ordered to ask this." Sapphire knew where this was going and frowned before Winter even asked the question. So Sapphire asked the question first.

"Have I killed anybody before?" Winter nodded.

"Was the question that obvious?" Sapphire sighed before she started to grip her bedsheets slightly.

"Well, given your heavy tone and that you brought up human opponents...it felt obvious, yes. As to if I have, as far as I remember, I haven't. But I still have some memories that I have to sift through. I'm hoping to go through them before school starts back up." Winter's look changed to one of worry.

"Won't that be painful?" Sapphire nodded as she looked back at Winter.

"Yes, it will. But with the bulk of dust out of my system, it won't cause any real damage. I'll just remember and relieve the pain." Winter shook her head as she gave Sapphire another hard look.

"No, you're wrong on that part." Sapphire tilted her head slightly and squinted her eye.

"Hm? How am I wrong?" Winter stood up, hoping that would help convey what she is trying to get across.

"You seem to have overlooked something, your brain." Winter pointed towards Sapphire's head.

"Your brain will be screaming at you, telling you which parts of your body are in pain. It will actively affect your nerves because your brain is telling them so." Sapphire had a small sigh but decided not to interrupt her.

"You may not get any more scars from it, but it is still damaging you. That is nothing that aura can really fix. You know that aura can't stop the pain." Sapphire closed her eye for a few seconds before opening them to answer.

"My mom said the same thing after I explained my situation to her. I'll tell you what I told her. You are right, but I have to convince myself otherwise." Winter's posture relaxed slightly as she began to shift her weight.

"If I don't, I fear I will break apart. I need to convince myself of this because I have to work through this. If I don't work through these memories, they can flash to me during a daydream or even at random times." Sapphire started to grip the bedsheets again, but it was harder this time.

"I told you that was the cause of my last few incidents. If that happened on a mission, it would be disastrous." Winter looked like she was trying to think of something before she broke into a frown.

"At least let our psych team be with you during this." Sapphire let go of the sheets as she nodded at Winter.

"I've always planned that Winter. That was the deal. But that is something for a bit later. First, I would like to call my family. Then I need to buy an eyepatch." Sapphire reached up to feel the bandage. She still had yet to see the scars on her face but could only imagine what they looked like.

"I thought I wouldn't scare as many people away because of my scars since I would be bundled up. But this new one on my face is going to prevent that." Sapphire gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"You don't know that. Some people think scars are rather dignifying. I'm positive you can make some friends here, maybe even a possible romantic partner." Winter sounded very optimistic about this, but that just made Sapphire laugh.

"Hahahahaha. I never took you for a comedian Winter. Haha." Winter frowned at that. 

"Do you lack that much self-confidence in yourself?" The smirk never left Sapphire's face as she spoke.

"Heh. I suppose I do, but it's also because I was tired of the same heartbreak. You were making it sound like I never tried to make friends. I did try. I actually think I'm pretty sociable if people would actually want to converse with me." Winter shifted her weight again before deciding to just sit in the chair again.

"Most people steer clear of me because of my scars. And those who didn't mind my scars just didn't like me in general. There were some people I tried to date." Sapphire began to trace the scar's on her wrist again. Winter noticed this but didn't say anything.

"They weren't fond of my scars, but they tried to look past it, then they saw the rest of my body." Sapphire became very downcast, and Winter could tell what was coming but let her continue her story.

"They had a look on their face like they were trying to hold back their lunch. They said my body was the most disgusting thing they've ever seen." Sapphire's voice became a bit softer as she tried to hold back the emotions she was starting to feel.

"After a few tries with different people, rumors started going with my body around Coquina and Vacuo and even Shade academy. Once that happened, I didn't bother trying anymore. I didn't want to open up my heart to somebody just to have it stepped on again." Winter did not know what to say to this. Any reason she could think of would just ring hollow. So she tried to just apologize at the very least.

"I….sorry. It was rude of me to presume you didn't try before. Sorry for making you relive those memories." Sapphire shakily tried to wave it off.

"Since it's an emotional pain, it doesn't sting as much as it used to. Now it's just a very dull ache." Sapphire was trying to hold back some tears.

"This damn recall. I'd like to delay my call until tomorrow. I'm no longer in a condition to speak to my family." Sapphire let go of her wrist and pinched to the bridge of her nose, hoping she could hide the tears that were forming. Winter nodded and stood up again, deciding she should give Saphire some privacy.

"Of course. I'll get it set up and let your family know so they can all be there." Sapphire quickly nodded, still pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Thank you, Winter." Winter nodded with a sad smile before she left.

'It's been a while since I felt this pain. No type of painkiller can stop this pain. Heh. Maybe I am a pathetic existence.' Sapphire's eyes went wide at that last thought.

"NO! No. I will not have those thoughts again. Not again." She violently shook her head as if trying to knock the evil thoughts out of her head. She started to subconsciously rub her old wrist cuts again as she laid back down and started to silently cry. Eventually, she finally fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it the end of this chapter then I can only say thank you. I have already written a lot of this story, but if there is no interest in it then I don't see a need to create future chapters. Criticism is welcome, but I just ask that you keep it constructive and civil. But feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think. I hope everyone will enjoy the rest of their day.


End file.
